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THE 

NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC 

MAGAZINE  *y '//,',','<  1  '^: 

AN   ILLUSTRATED   MONTHLY 


EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:    HENRY   GANNETT 

MANAGING  EDITOR:  GILBERT  H.  GROSVENOR 

ASSOCIATE  EDITORS 

A.  W.   GREELY  ELIZA  RUHAMAH  SCIDMORE  O.  P.  AUSTIN 

W  J   McGEE  MARCUS  BAKER  IDA  M.  TARBELL 

C.  HART  MERRIAM  WILLIS  L.  MOORE  CARL   LOUISE   GARRISON 

DAVID  J.  HILL  O.  H.  TITTMANN 


VOL.  XII -YEAR  J90J 


McCLJJRE,  PHIUJPS  &  CO. 
NEW  YORK 


£ 

i 

M  Z.L  3 
v/.  I  i 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

JUDD  A  DETWKILER,   PRINTERS 

1901 


CONTENTS 

Page 
The  Influence  of  Submarine  Cables  upon  Military  and  Naval  Supremacy  ;  by  GEORGE  O. 

SQUIER i 

The  Indian  Tribes  of  Southern  Patagonia,  Tierra  del  Fuego,  and  the  Adjoining  Islands  ; 

by  J.  B.  HATCHKR 12 

Location  of  the  Boundary  between  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica  ;  by  ARTHUR  P.  DAVIS  ....  22 

The  Nicaragua  Canal 28 

The  Tsangpo  ;  by  JAMES  MASCARENE  HUBBARD 32 

Recent  Contributions  to  our  Knowledge  of  the  Earth's  Shape  and  Size  by  the  United 

States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  ;  by  C.  A.  SCHOTT 36 

Explorations  in  Central  East  Africa 42 

Geographic  Notes 44 

The  Principles  Underlying  the  Survey  of  the  Bottom  of  the  Ocean  for  an  All-American 

Trans-Pacific  Cable  to  the  Philippines  and  the  Orient ;  by  E.  W.  LITTLEHALES 48 

An  Around-the-World  American  Exposition  ;  by  O.  P.  AUSTIN 49 

The  Causes  that  Led  up  to  the  Siege  of  Pekin  ;  by  W.  A.  P.  MARTIN 53 

Singan — the  Present  Capital  of  the  Chinese  Empire  ;  by  JAMES  MASCARENE  HUBBARD.  .  63 

The  Midnight  Sun  in  the  Klondike  ;  by  ALICE  ROLLINS  CRANE 66 

The  Northern  Lights  ;  by  ALICE  ROLLINS  CRANE . .  69 

Japan  and  China — Some  Comparisons  ;  by  HARRIE  WEBSTER 69 

Geographic  Notes 77 

Death  of  Colonel  Hilder  ;  [W  J  McGEE] 85 

The  Origin  of  Yosemite  Valley  ;  by  HENRY  GANNETT 86 

Geographic  Names 87 

Proceedings  of  the  National  Geographic  Society 88 

Abyssinia — The  Country  and  People  ;  by  OSCAR  T.  CROSBY 89 

The  Old  Yuma  Trail ;  by  W  J  McGEE 103 

The  Sea  Fogs  of  San  Francisco 108 . 

Geographic  Facts  from  Report  of  the  Taft  Philippine  Commission 114 

The  Philippine  Exhibit  at  the  Pan-American  Exposition  ;  by  D.  O.  NOBLE  HOFFMAN.  . .  119 

Geographic  Notes 123 

Geographic  Literature ., 126 

Proceedings  of  the  National  Geographic  Society 127 

The  Old  Yuma  Trail  (continued)  ;  by  W  J  McGEE 129 

Advances  in  Geographic  Knowledge  during  the  Nineteenth  Century  ;  by  A.  W.  GREELY.  143 

Mexico  of  Today  ;  by  DON  JUAN  N.  NAVARRO 152 

Geographic  Notes » . .  158 

Geographic  Literature 165 

Proceedings  of  the  National  Geographic  Society 166- 

The  Latin-American  Constitutions  and  Revolutions  ;  by  JOHN  W.  FOSTER 169 

Mexico  of  Today  (continued)  ;  by  DON  JUAN  N.  NAVARRO '. 176 

The  General  Geography  of  Alaska  ;  by  HENRY  GANNETT 180 

George  M.  Dawson  ;  [HENRY  GANNETT] 197 

Geographic  Notes 199 

Geographic  Literature 207 

Proceedings  of  the  National  Geographic  Society 208 


iv  CONTENTS 

Page 

China  :  Her  History  and  Development ;  by  JOHN  BARRKTT 209 

The  Dikes  of  Holland  ;  by  GKRAKD  H.  MATTHHS 219 

Mexico  of  Today  (concluded)  ;  by  DON  JUAN  N.  NAVARRO 235 

Sir  John  Murray 238 

Geographic  Notes 24° 

Geographic  Literature 24^ 

The  Link  Relations  of  Southwestern  Asia  ;  by  TALCOTT  WILLIAMS 249 

China  :  Her  History  and  Development  (concluded)  ;  by  JOHN  BARRETT 266 

The  Indian  Village  of  Baum  ;  by  H.  C.  BROWN 272 

The  Geography  of  Abyssinia  ;  by  AUGUSTUS  B.  WILDE 274 

Oil  Fields  of  Texas  and  California 276 

The  Sen  Indians 278 

Asia,  the  Cradle  of  Humanity  ;  by  W  J  McGER 281 

The  Link  Relations  of  Southwestern  Asia  (concluded)  ;  by  TALCOTT  WILLIAMS 291 

The  Old  Post-road  from  Tiflis  to  Erivan  ;  by  ESTHER  LANCRAFT  HOVKY 300 

Joseph  Le  Conte  ;  by  W  J  McGEE 3°9 

Mount  McKinley  ;  by  ROBERT  MULDROW 312 

Geographic  Notes 3*3 

Siberia  ;  by  Prof.  EDWIN  A.  GROSVENOR 317 

German  Geographers  and  German  Geography  ;  by  MARTHA  KRUG  GENTHE 324 

The  Drift  of  Floating  Bottles  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  ;  by  JAMES  PAGE 337 

The  British  Antarctic  Expedition 339 

Urban  Population  of  the  United  States 345 

Geographic  Notes        347 

Next   International  Geographical  Congress  to  be  Held  in   Washington  ;    [GILBERT  H. 

GKOSVENOR] 351 

Peary's  Work  in  1900  and  1901 357 

The  Weather  Bureau  ;  by  WILLIS  L-  MOORE 362 

Work  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology  ;  by  W  J  McGBE 369 

Boundaries  of  Territorial  Acquisitions 373 

The  German  South  Polar  Expedition  ;  by  GEORG  KOLLM 377 

National  Geographic  Society  Calendar,  1901-1902 379 

Geographic  Notes 380 

The  Sex,  Nativity,  and  Color  of  the  People  of  the  United  States;  [GILBERT  H.  GROSVENOR].  381 

A  Remarkable  Salt  Deposit ;  by  CHARLES  F.  HOLDER 391 

Sven  Hedin's  Explorations  in  Central  Asia 393 

Recent  Discoveries  in  Egypt  396 

Kodiak  not  Kadiak  ;  [MARCUS  BAKER] 397 

Origin  of  the  Name  "  Cape  Nome  ;  "  by  GEORGE  DAVIDSON 398 

Geographic  Notes 399 

Geographic  Literature 409 

^  National  Geographic  Society  Program  of  Lectures  and  Meetings 411 

Diary  of  a  Voyage  from  San  Francisco  to  Tahiti  and  Return,  1901  ;  by  S.  P.  LANGLEY.  . .  413 

The  Lost  Boundary  of  Texas  ;  by  MARCUS  BAKKR 430 

Ice  Caves  and  Frozen  Wells  ;  by  W  J  McGEE 433 

Western  Progress  in  China 434 

Geographic  Notes 436 

Geographic  Literature 442 

National  Geographic  Society 448 

Index 449 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Channel  Indians  of  the  west  coast  and  western  part  of  Strait  of  Magellan 15 

Tehuelche  tent 17 

A  Tehuelche  brave — twenty-five  years  of  age 19 

Tehuelche  squaw 21 

A.  P.  Davis 25 

Map  showing  the  boundary  between  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica 27 

Map  showing  route  of  Nicaragua  Canal  as  proposed  by  Isthmian  Canal  Commission 29 

Traveling  in  Nicaragua 30 

Natives  of  Nicaragua 31 

O.  H.  Tittmann '. 37 

Map  of  the  earth  on  Mollweide's  equivalent  or  homolographic  projection 39 

Lieut.  Franco  Querini 44 

Map  of  a  suggested  route  for  a  Floating  Exposition 51 

Old  gate  in  city  of  Pekin 61 

Suchau  Creek  at  Shanghai 62 

Midnight  Sun,  Dawson,  June,  1900 67 

Northern  lights 68 

An  execution  in  Pekin 75 

Rock  Temple  at  Amoy 76 

Hon.  O.  P.  Austin 80 

Colonel  F.  F.  Hilder 84 

Morning  fog  over  valleys 109 

Lifted  fog 1 10 

Summer  sea  fog  pouring  over  Sausalito  Hills  and  through  Golden  Gate in 

Fog  waves 112 

Fog  billow 113 

Evelyn  B.  Baldwin 1 18 

Geographic  mapping  of  the  United  States 122 

The  Santo  Domingo  of  today 130" 

A  cactus-dotted  plain  revealing  its  origin  in  occasional  projecting  bosses  of  granite 131 

Map  showing  the  country  of  the  old  Yuma  trail 132 

A  tongue  of  the  Red  Desert 135 

Looking  down  on  threescore  cross-marked  graves 138 

The  lowest  and  largest  is  confined  partly  by  great  boulders  and  granite  debris 139 

The  turreted  volcanic  mass  christened  "  Klotho's  Temple  "  by  Mr.  Gill 140 

Plains  still  mantled  with  herbage  and  grazed  by  herds  of  deer  as  in  pre-Columbian  times.. .  142 

Map  showing  the  world  at  the  end  of  the  XVIII  century 151 

Map  showing  the  world  at  the  end  of  the  XIX  century. , 151 

End  of  Columbia  Glacier,  College  Fiord 185 

Amherst  Glacier,  College  Fiord 186 

Juneau 187 

John  Muir 188 

An  Indian  totem 189 

Eskimo  at  Plover  Bay,  Siberia 190 

Eskimo  at  Plover  Bay,  Siberia 191 

(V) 


vi  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Pager 

Mt.  Paulof.  Alaska  Peninsula >92 

Henry  Gannett 195 

George  M.  Dawson 197 

George  Davidson '9& 

Map  showing  the  Netherlands  during  the  first  century 219 

Diagram  showing  the  Netherlands  of  today  and  the  State  of  Ohio  compared 220 

Map  showing  successive  enlargements  of  Haarlem  I  ,ak  <• 223 

Map  showing  Zeeland  about  the  year  1 200 225 

Three  diagrams  showing  the  enlargement  of  one  small  mud  flat  to  ten  times  its  original 

size 226 

Forest  growth  on  the  Dunes  228 

The  Dunes  near  Domburg,  in  the  Province  of  Zeeland 229 

Diagram   showing  normal  monthly  precipitation   in   Amsterdam,   Omaha,   Sacramento, 

Washington 231 

Pile  dikes  for  protection  against  marine  erosion .  .    . .  232 

Flood  chart  showing  condition  of  Holland  without  dikes 233 

Sir  John  Murray 239 

Relief  sketch  map  of  Kurasia — Lambert's  projection 251 

Map— villes  sur  la  surface  du  globe , 252 

The  continental  core  of  Asia 253 

Map  showing  arid  regions  and  closed  basins  of  Asia 254 

Map  showing  the  Mediterranean  basin 255 

Map  showing  distribution  of  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Coast  types 256 

Map  showing  distribution  of  rainfall  on  earth's  surface 258 

Map  showing  climatic  divisions 259 

Map  showing  the  vegetable  kingdom 260 

Map  showing  "  die  morphologisclien  Hauptgebiete  der  Erde  " 261 

Map  showing  the  races  of  mankind  before  the  European  invasion 263 

Map  showing  the  interrelation  of  the  races 264 

Map  showing  trade  routes  from  the  East  to  Egypt 293 

Map  showing  the  Roman  Empire > 299 

Our  guard  of  mounted  Cossacks 301 

^The  mountains,  looking  northeastward  from  the  Pass  of  Delijan 302 

The  village  of  Semenovka 303 

At  Je'le'novka 304 

An  Armenian  household 305 

The  ancient  mosque  at  Erivan 306 

A  study  in  rags 306 

The  village  of  Nijhi  Akhty  on  the  lava  plain 307 

The  village  threshing  floor  at  Je'le'novka  308 

Joseph  Le  Conte 310 

Map  showing  Mt   McKinley 312 

Alexander  Graham  Bell,  LL.  D 353 

W  J  McGee,  LL  D 354 

Gen.  A.  W.  Greely,  U.  S.  Army 355 

Hon.  Seth  Low 356 

Lieut.  Robert  E.  Peary 359 

Mrs.  Josephine  D.  Peary 360 

Map  showing  the  boundaries  of  territorial  acquisitions 375 

Diagram  showing  the  percentage  of  native  and  foreign  born  in  all  States  and  Territories 

having  at  least  one  per  cent  of  their  population  foreign  born 384 


ILLUSTRATIONS  vn 

Page 
Diagram  showing  percentage  of  whites  and  negroes  in  certain  States  at  each  census,  1790- 

1900 386-387 

Ploughing  up  the  salt  in  the  sea  of  Salton 390 

Piles  of  salt  at  Salton,  280  feet  below  the  level  of  the  ocean 392 

Map  showing  position  of  Tahiti  in  mid  Pacific 413 

Gathering  cocoanuts 416 

Map  of  Tahiti 418 

Robinson  Crusoe  hut 419 

Crossing  a  ford 420 

Landing 421 

Cook  Island  chief ' 422 

The  road  to  Point  Venus 423 

Cook  Islanders 424 

The  pile  of  stones  ready  for  the  fire  walk 425 

The  aids  began  to  turn  the  stones  with  long,  green  poles 426 

Papa-Ita  began  to  walk  through  the  middle  hurriedly 427 

Map  showing  Clark's  survey  (Texas  boundary) 431 

Diagram  showing  literacy  of  the  men  of  the  United  States 437 

Map  of  Siberian  Railway 438 


THE   INFLUENCE   OF   SUBMARINE   CABLES 


THE  IMPERIAL  CABLE  SYSTEM  OF 
GREAT   BRITAIN. 

As  soon  as  the  possibility  of  communi- 
cating at  long  distance,  by  means  of  sub- 
marine cables,  was  practically  demon- 
strated, England  saw  what  commercial 
and  political  preponderance  the  creation 
of  a  great  network  of  cables,  resting 
under  her  control,  would  give  her.  With- 
out letting  herself  be  discouraged  by 
heavy  losses  in  the  beginning,  with  a 
perseverance  worthy  of  admiration,  she 
has  succeeded  in  creating  and  developing, 
methodically  and  without  delay,  a  net- 
work of  submarine  telegraphic  cables, 
which  to-day  encircles  a  large  part  of  the 
entire  world. 

The  English  cables,  up  to  the  present, 
have  been  laid  principally  by  private 
companies,  but  Article  7  of  the  condi- 
tions which  govern  them  provides  that 
all  official  despatches  shall  have  prece- 
dence over  others;  Article  3,  that  the 
companies  can  have  no  foreigners  among 
their  employees,  nor  can  the  wires  pass 
into  a  foreign  office,  nor  under  the  con- 
trol of  a  foreign  government ;  and  Arti- 
cle 9,  that  in  case  of  war  the  government 
can  occupy  the  different  stations  and 
place  its  own  employees  therein. 

During  the  past  two  years,  however, 
there  has  been  a  great  national  protest 
in  England  and  the  colonies  against  the 
exorbitant  rates  imposed  by  the  monopoly 
of  the  private  cable  corporations,  until 
the  principle  of  absolute  state  ownership 
has  come  to  be  a  controlling  one  in 
England's  future  cable  policy. 

England's  sea-power  is  not  alone 
measured  by  the  number,  character,  and 
tonnage  of  her  war-ships.  It  is  im- 
mensely increased  by  the  system  of  ex- 
clusively controlled  submarine  cable  net- 
work, which  at  present  forms  four-fifths 
of  all  the  cables  in  the  world,  woven  like 
a  spider's  web  to  include  all  her  prin- 
cipal colonies,  fortified  ports,  and  coaling 
stations. 

Submarine    cable    communication    is 


scarcely  fifty  years  old,  yet  the  British 
Empire  is  already  bound  together  in  one 
vast  intelligence,  transmission  system, 
with  London  as  its  centre.  Nothing  im- 
portant can  happen  in  any  quarter  of  the 
globe  which  does  not  find  its  way  to  this 
great  world's  news  exchange — London. 
And  this  system  is  and  has  been  a  prin- 
cipal element  of  her  strength  and  has 
largely  made  possible  a  government  in- 
cluding subjects  naturally  widely  differ- 
ing in  character,  habits,  and  modes  of 
thought. 

This  great  cable  system  is  the  more 
important  since  no  other  country  has  such 
a  system,  and  this  fact  has  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  British  Empire  a  powerful 
means  of  real  dominion  over  the  rest  of 
the  world.  Nor  is  England  satisfied  with 
her  present  extensive  telegraph  system  of 
world  control ;  she  has  in  projection  for 
the  very  near  future  an  extension  of  this 
system,  which  will  be  nothing  less  than 
a  British  imperial  telegraph  system  en- 
circling the  entire  globe. 

It  was  early  discovered  by  every  coun- 
try in  Europe  that  so  efficient  and  valu- 
able a  servant  to  trade  and  commerce, 
so  important  an  aid  to  the  state  itself  as 
the  telegraph,  should  become  a  national 
institution.  Great  Britain,  France,  Aus- 
tria, Prussia,  Russia,  Sardinia,  Italy, 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  Belgium,  each 
established  a  state  telegraph  system. 
Thirty  years  ago  the  English  telegraph 
lines  were  transferred  to  the  state,  and 
experience  has  shown  that  this  has  been 
done  with  advantage  to  the  state  itself 
and  to  the  benefit  of  the  public.  At  the 
present  moment  the  British  Empire  is  ad- 
vancing rapidly  to  the  accomplishment  of 
a  state  controlled  cable  system.  Imperial 
penny-postage  having  been  recently  real- 
ized throughout  the  British  Empire,  the 
next  great  step  in  miperial  development 
along  this  line  is  to  connect  the  state- 
owned  land  telegraph  systems  of  the 
Empire  by  a  state-owned  and  controlled 
system  of  submarine  cables. 

An  essential  and  necessary  condition 


THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


which  has  guided  in  the  conception  and 
realization  of  tins  cable  system  has  been 
that  none  of  the  lines  shall  touch  foreign 
soil.  So  important  has  been  this  prin- 
ciple in  the  proposed  British- Pacific  cable 
that  we  find  Great  Britain,  for  some  years 
past,  anxiously  negotiating  for  sove- 
reignty over  an  insignificant  island  in  the 
Hawaiian  group  upon  which  to  land  her 
proposed  cable  to  Australasia ;  and,  failing 
in  this,  we  find  her  boldly  ready  to  lay  a 
single  span  of  cable  of  over  3,500  nautical 
miles  in  length  from  Vancouver  to  Fan- 
ning Island,  for  the  sole  imperial  reason 
that  the  cable  shall  touch  only  soil  ex- 
clusively owned  and  controlled  by  Great 
Britain.  This  principle  will  be  bought  in 
this  case  at  the  price  of  permanently 
placing  at  a  disadvantage  British  cable 
traffic  in  the  Pacific;  since,  as  will  be 
pointed  out  later,  the  United  States,  by 
the  annexation  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
can  reach  the  East  across  the  mid-Pacific 
by  cables  having  no  single  span  longer 
than  the  present  Atlantic  cables,  and  yet 
adhere  to  the  same  principle  of  landing 
only  on  territory  belonging  to  the  United 
States. 

BRITISH-PACIFIC   CABLE. 

England  at  present  has  direct  tele- 
graphic connection  with  Vancouver  with 
wires  independent  of  any  foreign  power. 
Practically  all  of  the  Atlantic  cables  land- 
ing at  Newfoundland  or  Nova  Scotia 
from  the  coast  of  Ireland  are  under 
British  control,  and,  in  connection  with 
the  Canadian  Pacific  telegraphic  lines, 
therefore  furnish  England  with  direct 
communication  to  the  west  coast  of  North 
America. 

The  proposed  British-Pacific  cable  has 
been  prominently  before  the  British  Gov- 
ernment as  an  imperial  measure  for  a 
number  of  years.  It«has  been  the  subject 
of  colonial  conferences  and  of  exhaustive 
research  by  a  Pacific  Cable  Commission. 
Its  construction  is  now  assured  beyond 
a  reasonable  doubt.  The  route  from 
Vancouver  is  to  Fanning  Island,  thence 


to  Fiji  Island,  thence  to  Norfolk  Island, 
and  from  thence  by  two  branches  to  New 
Zealand,  and  the  eastern  coast  of  Aus- 
tralia. The  land  lines  of  Australia  would 
then  complete  telegraph  connection  with 
the  western  coast. 

In  the  Indian  Ocean  it  is  proposed  to 
connect  West  Australia  to  Cocos  Island, 
and  thence  to  Mauritius,  and  from  thence 
to  Natal  and  Cape  Town.  Cocos  Island 
is  further  to  be  connected  with  Singapore 
by  a  branch  cable.  Singapore  is  already 
in  connection  with  Hong  Kong  by  an  all- 
British  cable.  Another  branch  is  also 
proposed  from  Cocos  Island  to  Ceylon. 
At  Mauritius  a  connection  would  be 
formed  with  the  existing  cable  at  Sey- 
chelles, Aden,  and  Bombay.  In  the  At- 
lantic Ocean,  in  order  to  avoid  the  shallow 
seas  along  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  Spain, 
Portugal,  and  France,  a  cable  from  Cape 
Town,  touching  at  St.  Helena,  Ascen- 
sion, and  mid-ocean  stations,  and  extend- 
ing to  Bathurst,  which  is  already  con- 
nected by  existing  cables  to  Gibraltar,  has 
been  laid  within  the  last  few  months. 
Its  construction  was  hastened  after  the 
outbreak  of  the  Boer  war  to  furnish  an 
alternate  British  route  to  South  Africa 
by  the  West  Coast.  It  is  further  pro- 
posed to  extend  the  cable  from  Ascension 
to  the  British  Island  of  Bermuda,  per- 
haps touching  at  Barbados  as  a  mid- 
ocean  station.  At  Bermuda  a  connection 
would  be  formed  with  the  cable  already 
existing  at  Halifax,  and  that  point  with 
the  Canadian  and  trans-Atlantic  lines. 
The  extension  of  the  above  cables  in  the 
Pacific,  the  Indian,  and  the  Atlantic 
oceans  would  involve  the  expenditure  of 
something  like  £6,000,000  sterling  and 
the  laying  of  about  23,000  knots  of  new 
cable.  With  the  equipment  and  experi- 
ence which  Great  Britain  has  had  in 
cable-laying,  these  new  cables  can  be 
manufactured  and  laid  by  England  in  an 
incredibly  short  time,  and  there  can  be 
little  doubt  but  that  this  extension  of 
British  cables,  if  not  along  the  exact  line 
above  specified,  yet  with  slight  variations 


THE   INFLUENCE  OF   SUBMARINE   CABLES 


will  be  an  accomplishment  of  the  near 
future. 

With  this  extension  of  imperial  cable 
added  to  her  already  extensive  state- 
owned  land-line  system,  England  will 
have  the  most  complete  telegraphic  sys- 
tem in  existence,  placing  the  following 
fortified  and  garrisoned  coaling  stations 
in  direct  connection  each  with  any  other, 
viz. :  Hong  Kong,  Singapore,  Trincoma- 
lee,  Colombo,  Aden,  Cape  Town,  Simons 
Bay,  St.  Helena,  Ascension,  Saint  Lucia, 
Jamaica,  Bermuda,  Halifax,  Esquimalt, 
King  George's  Sound,  and  Thursday 
Island.  The  following  "  defended  ports'' 
would  likewise  be  connected,  viz. :  Dur- 
ban, Karachi,  Bombay,  Madras,  Calcutta, 
Rangoon,  Adelaide,  Melbourne,  Hobart, 
Sydney,  Newcastle,  Brisbane,  Towns- 
ville,  Auckland,  Wellington,  Lyttelton, 
and  Dunedin. 

With  the  completion  of  the  cable  across 
the  Pacific  the  last  telegraphic  gap  will 
be  completed  around  the  earth.  Great 
Britain  will  thert  have  the  great  advan- 
tage of  duplicate  routes,  since  from  any 
point  there  will  be  two  routes — one  east 
and  one  west — to  any  other  station. 

PROPOSED     COLONIAL     TELEGRAPH 
SYSTEM  FOR  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Since  the  events  of  the  Spanish- 
American  War  the  supreme  impor- 
tance of  exclusively  controlled  com- 
munications, as  a  means  of  military  and 
naval  warfare,  has  been  recognized  as 
never  before.  All  the  principal  nations 
are  studying  this  subject  in  its  various 
aspects,  and  already  a  distinct  cable  pol- 
icy is  entering  into  the  politics  of  the 
principal  countries  possessing  colonies 
and  seeking  for  commercial,  military, 
and  naval  supremacy. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  of  interest 
to  note  briefly  what  has  been  the  tele- 
graph policy  of  the  United  States  in 
dealing  with  the  territory  of  our  new 
possessions.  In  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico, 
and  in  the  Philippine  Archipelago,  every 
effort  has  been  made  by  the  Signal  Corps 


of  the  Army  to  cover  the  islands  with  a 
network  of  wires,  so  complete  and  re- 
liable that  intercommunication  is  insured 
at  all  times.  In  the  pacification  of  Cuba 
and  Porto  Rico,  in  the  suppression  of 
the  Philippine  uprising,  it  is  believed  that 
there  has  been  no  more  potent  agent 
than  the  military  telegraph. 

For  years  Spain  had  been  trying  to 
pacify  the  Island  of  Cuba,  and  yet  her 
telegraph  system  was  incomplete,  obso- 
lete, and  unreliable  in  the  extreme.  It 
was  possible  for  bands  of  insurgents  to 
move  about  much  at  their  pleasure,  ap- 
pearing here  and  there,  with  no  means 
of  locating  or  concentrating  for  their 
destruction.  It  was  not  that  the  number 
of  troops  was  not  sufficient,  so  much  as 
that  there  were  no  efficient  means  of 
directing  the  troops  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  results  decisive. 

TELEGRAPH   SYSTEM   IN   CUBA   AND 
PORTO   RICO. 

Since  the  evacuation  of  Cuba  by  Span- 
ish troops  the  land  telegraph  system  has 
been  entirely  reconstructed  by  the  United 
States  Signal  Corps,  and  now  aggregates 
about  2,500  miles,  including  a  central 
trunk  line  the  entire  length  of  the  island, 
which  is  duplicated  from  Havana  to 
Sancti  Spiritus.  In  addition  to  this 
trunk  line  there  are  thirteen  lines  across 
the  island,  which  divide  it  up  into  com- 
paratively small  sections.  Every  mile  of 
these  lines  has  been  reconstructed,  under 
great  difficulties,  yet  their  reliability  is 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  entire 
Porto  Rican  Government  business,  which 
is  now  transmitted  over  the  new  land 
lines  from  Havana  to  Santiago,  was  con- 
ducted during  the  month  of  June,  1900, 
without  a  single  interruption. 

In  the  Island  of  Porto  Rico  every  im- 
portant commercial  or  military  point  is 
in  telegraph  connection  by  a  system  of 
lines,  which  have  also  been  entirely  re- 
constructed and  the  routes  improved 
since  the  disastrous  hurricane  of  August, 
1899. 


THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


PHILIPPINE    MILITARY    TELEGRAPH 
SYSTEM. 

It  has  been  assumed  as  a  principle 
from  the  outset  that  the  quickest  means 
of  pacifying  and  civilizing  the  Philippine 
Archipelago  is  to  cover  it  with  a  network 
of  telegraph  wires.  Commanding  offi- 
cers can  crush  an  incipient  uprising  sud- 
denly and  before  it  has  time  to  assume 
dangerous  proportions  by  concentrating 
by  telegraph  the  garrisons  from  all  di- 
rections upon  the  one  point  involved.  Al- 
ready there  are  about  2,500  miles  of  land 
telegraph  lines  in  operation  in  the  Phil- 
ippines, and  about  two  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  of  inter-island  and  lake  cables  have 
been  laid,  every  mile  constructed  by  the 
United  States  Signal  Corps  since  the 
battle  of  Manila  Bay.  At  the  last  report 
the  telegraphic  messages  in  the  Island  of 
Luzon  alone  exceeded  6,500  per  day, 
averaging  over  forty  words  each,  or  ap- 
proximately 260,000  words  daily. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  telegraph  is 
practically  the  only  mail  service  that  ex- 
ists. 

In  Luzon  two  trunk  lines  have  been 
established — one  along  the  west  coast, 
the  other  along  the  Rio  Grande  de 
Cagayan.  The  islands  of  Cebu  and 
Leyte  have  been  connected  by  cable,  and 
a  complete  new  route  from  Manila  to 
Iloilo  is  in  operation,  furnishing  a  dupli- 
cate route  to  the  present  English  cable 
direct  from  Manila  to  Iloilo.  In  the  De- 
partment of  Mindanao  and  Jolo,  the  plan 
involves  direct  communication,  by  cable, 
between  the  principal  islands,  and  by  land 
lines  and  cable  to  the  telegraph  system  in 
the  Department  of  the  Visayas,  and  from 
thence,  by  duplicate  routes  to  Manila. 

THE  ALASKAN  TELEGRAPH  SYSTEM. 

The  growing  commercial  importance  of 
Alaska,  and  the  prospective  future  of  that 
country,  have  made  the  construction  of 
a  telegraph  system  for  this  territory  an 
imperative  necessity.  Congress  at  its  last 
session  authorized  an  expenditure  of 


$450,000  for  the  construction  of  such  a 
line. 

Owing  to  the  shortness  of  the  working 
season  in  this  latitude,  and  the  very  un- 
usual conditions  under  which  the  line 
must  be  constructed,  as  well  as  the  lack 
of  any  adequate  transportation,  it  was  not 
hoped  to  complete  the  work  this  season. 

The  military  cables  connecting  the  gold 
district  of  Cape  Nome  with  the  Headquar- 
ters at  St.  Michael,  and  also  connecting 
St.  Michael  with  Unalaklik,  which  is  to 
be  the  terminus  of  the  land  line  up  the 
Yukon,  have  been  completed  and  have 
placed  the  Department  Commander  at  St. 
Michael  in  direct  communication  with 
Cape  Nome. 

These  submarine  cables,  involving  in 
the  aggregate  nearly  two  hundred  miles, 
were  constructed  by  an  American  manu- 
facturer, and  were  laid,  equipped,  and 
operated  by  American  engineers. 

The  military  forts  to  be  connected,  with 
the  approximate  distances,  are  shown  in 
the  following  table : 


•o 
"rt 

sl 

O 

ju 

1 

d 

fc.  bO 

o 

Fort  Egbert 
Circle  City. 
Fort  Yukon  . 

350 
520 
610 

W 
170 
260 

y 

90 

t 

1 

rt 

Q. 

B 

I 

0 

j 

Rampart  .  .  . 

870 

520 

350 

200 

oe. 

o 

i 

Fort  Gibbon 

940 

590 

420 

33° 

70 

St.  Michael. 

1,490 

1,140 

970 

880 

620 

550 

7 

Cape  Nome 

1,610 

1,260 

1,000 

I.OOO 

740 

670 

I2O 

By  a  recent  temporary  arrangement 
with  the  Canadian  authorities  this  tele- 
graph system  will  be  enabled  to  reach  the 
United  States  over  the  line  now  being 
constructed  by  the  Canadian  Govern- 
ment between  Atlin  and  Quesnelle — a 
distance  of  about  nine  hundred  miles. 

A    PACIFIC    CABLE. 

In  order  to  bind  together  the  local  land 
telegraph  systems  which  have  been  out- 
lined above,  these  systems  should  be  di- 
rectly connected  at  an  early  date  with 
the  United  States.  First  in  this  colo- 
nial system,  comes  the  proposed  trans- 
Pacific  Cable,  connecting  California  with 
the  Hawaiian  Islands,  thence  to  Midway 


THE   INFLUENCE   OF   SUBMARINE   CABLES 


Island,  thence  to  the  Island  of  Guam,  and 
from  there  to  the  Island  of  Luzon. 

A  cable  system  from  Vancouver  via 
the  Aleutian  Islands  to  Japan  and  the 
Philippines  has  long  been  proposed,  and 
has  many  points,  commercial  and  techni- 
cal, in  its  favor  as  a  trans-Pacific  route. 
The  true  solution  is  thought  to  be  the 
early  construction  of  both  of  these  trans- 
Pacific  cable  lines,  thereby  furnishing, 
first,  a  direct  connection  to  the  Alaskan 
system,  and  by  a  later  extension  to  the 
Philippines  a  duplicate  route  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  more  southern  line  via 
Hawaii.  A  short  cable  from  Sitka  to 
Valdez  would  be  one  means  of  perfect- 
ing a  junction  with  the  Alaska  land  sys- 
tem. 

The  recent  acquisition  by  the  United 
States  of  the  island  of  Tutuila,  and  the 
construction  in  Pago  Pago  Harbor  of 
a  coaling  station,  makes  it  desirable  to 
join  this  advanced  American  station  in  the 
southwestern  Pacific  to  the  Hawaiian  Isl- 
ands by  submarine  cable. 

This  can  probably  be  most  readily  ac- 
complished by  connecting  it  directly  to 
Fiji,  a  station  on  the  British-Pacific  cable 
route. 

To  further  complete  this  proposed  colo- 
nial telegraph  system,  it  will  be  necessary 
to  connect  the  island  of  Porto  Rico  by 
submarine  cable  to  the  United  States,  and, 
although  of  greater  length,  a  line  direct 
from  New  York  to  Porto  Rico  is  sug- 
gested as  offering  many  advantages.  The 
shortest  line  is  not  always  the  most  ad- 
vantageous. For  instance,  Haiti  is  con- 
nected direct  to  New  York  City,  instead 
of  to  the  coast  of  Florida,  which  would 
be  much  nearer,  and  Bermuda  is  con- 
nected direct  with  Halifax,  for  the  sole 
object  of  exclusive  British  control  under 
all  circumstances. 

ESTIMATED     COST     OF     PROPOSED 
COLONIAL  TELEGRAPH   SYSTEM. 

CABLES    IN    THE    PACIFIC. 

Trans-Pacific  cable,  San  Francisco 
via  Hawaiian  Islands,  Midway 
Island,  and  Island  of  Guam  to 
Luzon  $12,000,000 


Inter-island  communication  for  the 
Hawaiian  group  $150,000 

To  complete  the  Inter-island  tele- 
graph system  of  the  Philippines. .  250,000 

For  Alaska  telegraph  system,  as  al- 
ready authorized  by  Congress  . . .  450,000 

To  extend  the  Alaska  telegraph  sys- 
tem and  to  connect  it  to  the 
United  States  by  direct  cables, 
and  also  for  further  extension  to 
the  Philippines  via  the  Aleutian 
Islands,  providing  a  duplicate 
trans-Pacific  route  to  the  Philip- 
pines    10,000,000 

For  cable  connections  with  Tutuila 
Island  coaling  station  at  Pago 
Pago  Harbor 650,000 

CABLES     IN     THE    ATLANTIC. 

Direct  cable  from  the  coast  of  the 
United  States  to  the  island  of 
Porto  Rico  1,500,000 

Total    $25,000,000 

Estimated  cost  of  proposed   Isth- 
mian Canal $200,000,000 

Relative  cost  of  two  enterprises I  to  8 

This  estimate,  which  is  necessarily  a 
very  general  one,  due  to  the  great  fluctua- 
tions in  the  price  of  materials,  the  inex- 
perience of  American  manufacturers,  etc., 
shows  that  with  an  expenditure  of  $25,- 
000,000,  or  perhaps  $30,000,000  at  most, 
the  United  States  can  have  a  telegraph  sys- 
tem connecting  all  her  possessions,  and 
placing  each  part  of  such  possessions  in 
direct  connection  with  the  United  States 
by  the  best  and  most  efficient  means  of 
communication  known. 

For  the  expense  of  three  or  four  first- 
class  battleships,  the  United  States  can 
provide  herself  with  the  most  powerful 
means  known  for  extending  and  preserv- 
ing her  commercial  influence  and  for  the 
speedy  pacification  and  civilization  of  the 
people  who  have  recently  come  under  her 
control,  and  can  secure  a  strategic  ad- 
vantage— military,  naval,  and  political — 
which  is  necessary  to  her  position  as  a 
world  power. 

Submarine  cables  are  now  established 
for  colonial,  political,  and  diplomatic  rea- 
sons, as  really  as  for  their  purely  com- 
mercial purposes.  Nor  is  actual  state  of 
war  of  the  country  itself  the  only  fear; 
witness  the  present  plight  of  France  due 


8 


THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


to  the  Transvaal  War ;  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  cables  to  South  Africa  are  under 
the  control  of  England,  and  the  establish- 
ment by  her  of  a  war  censorship,  France 
is  absolutely  dependent  upon  England  not 
only  for  news  from  the  Transvaal,  but 
also  for  communication  with  her  own 
colony  of  Madagascar,  and  her  South  Af- 
rica possessions.  The  importance  of  this 
subject  has  led  her  Colonial  Commission 
to  recommend  recently  the  immediate  con- 
struction of  submarine  cables,  joining 
France  with  Senegal,  Madagascar,  and 
Tonkin,  the  latter  connecting  with  the 
Danish  company's  cables.  Indeed,  the 
plan  ultimately  involves  an  estimated  ex- 
penditure of  $25,000,000  and  includes  a 
complete  colonial  cable  system. 

THE    MILITARY    CONTROL    OF    SUB- 
MARINE CABLES  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

The  International  Convention  for  the 
Protection  of  Submarine  Cables,  which 
met  at  Paris  in  1884,  made  no  provision 
defining  the  rights  and  immunities  of 
cable  property  in  time  of  war. 

In  addition  to  incorporating  an  article 
in  the  convention  stipulating  that  this 
convention  shall  in  no  wise  affect  the  lib- 
erty of  belligerents,  Lord  Lyons,  the  Brit- 
ish delegate,  submitted  the  following 
declaration  at  the  moment  of  signing  the 
convention :  "  Her  Majesty's  Government 
understands  Article  XV  in  this  sense, 
that  in  time  of  war,  a  belligerent,  a  signa- 
tory of  the  convention,  shall  be  free  to  act 
in  regard  to  submarine  cables,  as  if  the 
convention  did  not  exist." 

M.  Leopold  Orben,  in  the  name  of  the 
Belgian  Government,  also  submitted  the 
following  declaration : 

"  The  Belgian  Government,  through 
its  delegates  to  the  conference,  has  main- 
tained that  the  convention  has  no  effect 
upon  the  rights  of  belligerent  powers. 
Those  rights  would  be  neither  more  or 
less  extensive  after  the  signature  than 
they  are  now.  The  mention  inserted  in 
Article  XV,  although  absolutely  useless 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Belgian  Govern- 


ment, would  not,  however,  justify  a  refus- 
al on  its  part  to  unite  in  a  work  the  ex- 
pediency of  which  is  indisputable." 

Before  the  Spanish-American  War 
there  were  few  examples  of  damages  done 
to  submarine  cables  by  belligerents. 

As  has  been  pointed  out,  Article  XV 
of  the  Convention  of  Paris,  of  1884,  for 
the  Protection  of  Submarine  Cables,  sub- 
scribed to  by  twenty-six  nations,  specifi- 
cally states  that  "  The  stipulations  of  this 
convention  shall  in  no  wise  affect  the  lib- 
erty of  belligerents."  In  consequence, 
the  question  as  to  what,  if  any,  special  pro- 
tection was  to  be  accorded  submarine 
cables  in  time  of  war,  remained  theoret- 
ical until  the  Spanish-American  War  of 
$,  when  a  practical  rule  of  action  was 


outlined  by  General  A.  W.  Greely,  Chief 
Signal  Officer  of  the  United  States  Army. 

Upon  the  declaration  of  war,  General 
Greely,  upon  whom  by  law  devolved  the 
operation  of  military  telegraph  lines  and 
cables,  was  called  into  the  national  coun- 
cil for  his  opinion  as  to  the  line  of  action 
best  calculated  to  subserve  the  legitimate 
rights  of  commerce  and  industry,  while 
conserving  the  military  interests  of  the 
United  States.  He  took  the  view  that,  in- 
asmuch as  postal  communications  were 
forbidden  between  belligerents,  prohibi- 
tive orders  should  be  issued  against  such 
telegraphic  correspondence  as  might 
benefit  the  public  enemy,  pointing  out  that 
telegrams,  by  their  secrecy  and  rapidity, 
produce  military  results  much  more  im- 
portant and  injurious  than  are  possible 
by  the  use  of  the  mail. 

General  Greely  advised  that  cable  op- 
erations should  continue  over  the  in- 
ternational cables  between  Havana  and 
Florida,  of  course  under  strict  military 
censorship,  and  his  firm  stand  prevented 
any  interruptions  of  this  cable  system. 
By  his  orders  Captain  R.  E.  Thompson, 
Signal  Corps,  United  States  Army,  took 
military  possession  of  the  Key  West  tele- 
graph office  on  April  23,  1898,  and  cut 
the  cables  so  that  Jacksonville  could  no 
longer  work  with  Havana.  Domestic  and 


THE   INFLUENCE  OF   SUBMARINE   CABLES 


business  messages  in  open  text  were  al- 
lowed to  be  sent  and  received  from  Ha- 
vana, but  only  under  strict  military  cen- 
sorship. Similar  action  was  taken  at 
Havana  by  the  Governor-General  of  Cuba, 
who  established  a  rigid  Spanish  military 
censorship,  so  that  all  messages  were  sub- 
ject to  double  scrutiny. 

By  his  instructions  General  Greely 
recognized  the  existence  of  five  classes  of 
cables : 

First :  Those  of  which  the  termini  are 
in  the  enemy's  country ;  for  instance,  the 
Cuba  Submarine  Cable  system  along  the 
south  coast  of  Cuba. 

Second :  Cables  which  directly  connect 
countries  at  war,  so  that  each  belligerent 
controls  one  end  of  cable;  for  instance, 
that  of  the  International  Oceanic  Tele- 
graph Company  between  Florida  and 
Havana. 

Third :  Where  one  end  of  the  cable  is 
in  the  enemy's  country  and  the  other  in 
neutral  territory;  for  instance,  the  West 
India  and  Panama  cables  extending 
through  Cuba  to  Porto  Rico,  and  thence 
to  Saint  Thomas. 

Fourth:  Where  a  cable  extends  from 
the  coast  of  an  offensive  belligerent  to  a 
neutral  country  contiguous  to  the  terri- 
tory of  the  defensive  belligerent ;  for  in- 
stance, the  Haiti  Cable  from  New  York 
City  to  Haiti,  where  there  is  direct  cable 
connection  with  the  Island  of  Cuba. 

Fifth:  Cables  having  one  terminus  in 
the  territory  of  the  offensive  belligerent 
and  the  other  in  neutral  regions  remote 
from  the  scene  of  hostility ;  for  instance, 
the  Atlantic  cables  connecting  the  United 
States  with  Europe. 

To  cables  of  the  first  class,  whether  the 
property  of  the  defending  enemy  or  a 
neutral  corporation,  was  applied  the  sim- 
ple and  well-known  rule  that  they  are  sub- 
ject to  the  vicissitudes  of  war,  and  that 
being  in  use  for  war  purposes  they  are 
proper  objects  of  offensive  military  op- 
erations. The  orders  issued  to  the  offi- 
cers of  the  Signal  Corps  looked  upon 
these  cables,  whether  they  were  laid  in 


the  high  sea  or  along  the  immediate 
coast,  as  liable  to  seizure  and  total  de- 
struction. 

Cables  of  the  second  class  were  easily 
dealt  with.  The  cables  between  Key  West 
and  Havana  were  taken  possession  of, 
militarily,  by  Spain  in  Cuba  and  by  the 
American  Army  in  Key  West.  Messages 
going  and  coming  were  subjected  to  the 
most  rigid  military  censorship  at  both 
ends  of  the  cable.  Only  messages  in  plain 
text  bearing  upon  business  and  social  sub- 
jects were  permitted,  and  where  any  sus- 
picion existed  as  to  the  loyalty  of  the 
sender  were  either  refused  or  not  sent. 
Exceptional  cipher  messages  were  per- 
mitted as  a  matter  of  courtesy  and  favor 
to  selected  diplomatic  representatives  of 
neutral  nations. 

The  cables  of  the  third  class  were 
viewed  as  contraband  of  war ;  but  it  was 
also  recognized  that  their  liability  to  de- 
struction depended  in  a  measure  on  the 
locality  of  the  cable.  General  Greely 
recognized  as  unsettled  and  of  doubtful 
expediency  the  right  of  any  belligerent  to 
raise  from  the  bottom  and  destroy  on  the 
high  sea  a  neutral  cable,  merely  on  the 
ground  that  such  cable  landed  in  a  hostile 
country.  He,  however,  applied  a  more 
rigid  rule  to  such  portions  of  cables,  cable 
huts,  instruments,  etc.,  as  were  located 
within  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  the 
enemy.  This  rule  was  based  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  such  cable  property,  whether  be- 
longing to  an  enemy  or  to  neutral  corpora- 
tions, is  not  only  subject  to  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  war,  but,  being  contraband  of 
war,  is  a  legitimate  object  of  military 
operations.  In  accordance  with  this  view 
his  orders  to  Colonel  James  Allen,  Signal 
Corps,  charged  him  to  use  his  utmost  ef- 
forts to  cut  off  the  south  coast  of  Cuba 
any  cable  that  could  be  grappled  and 
picked  up,  either  within  a  marine  league 
of  the  coast,  or  within  range  of  Spanish 
batteries. 

In  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  during  the 

Spanish-American  War,  certain  neutral 

•  cable  stations  of  this  class  fell  within  the 


IO 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


power  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States. 
In  such  cases  the  officials  of  the  neutral 
cable  companies  were  given  a  choice  of 
action.  They  could  abandon  their  proper- 
ty to  the  vicissitudes  of  war,  or  accepting 
the  force  majeurc,  were  allowed  to  trans- 
act business  under  strict  military  censor- 
ship. Even  during  the  siege  of  Santiago 
the  orders  permitted  the  French  Tele- 
graphic Cable  Company  to  accept  busi- 
ness for  Santiago  de  Cuba  within  the 
Spanish  lines,  every  such  message,  how- 
ever, to  be  vised  by  the  military  censor. 

The  fourth  class  of  cables  were  seized 
by  the  military  forces  of  the  United 
States  and  operated  under  strict  military 
censorship.  Code  and  cipher  messages 
were  absolutely  refused  save  for  the  au- 
thorized government  agents  and  certain 
excepted  diplomatic  representatives,  the 
latter  as  a  matter  of  courtesy. 

Cables  of  the  fifth  class  were  placed 
under  a  military  censorship.  Of  these, 
there  were  six  systems  comprising  sepa- 
rate cables.  Most  of  these  telegraph 
cables  were  only  constructively  seized, 
General  Greely  taking  the  responsibility 
of  intrusting  the  direct  censorship  of 
messages,  under  the  general  supervision 
of  an  officer  of  the  Signal  Corps,  to 
the  respective  superintendents,  men  of 
high  character,  whose  good  faith  was 
guaranteed  by  the  companies  whose  in- 
terests they  likewise  guarded.  The  in- 
terests of  the  United  States  were  thus 
subserved  while  the  privacy  of  the  affairs 
of  the  companies  was  conserved.  The 
responsible  officials  gave  a  written  pledge 
to  observe  such  rules  as  might  be  filed 
by  the  Chief  Signal  Officer  with  the  com- 
panies. These  rules  prohibited  all  mes- 
sages to  and  from  Spain,  and  also  certain 
other  classes  which  were  deemed  preju- 
dicial to  the  military  interests  of  the 
United  States.  In  cases  of  doubt,  mes- 
sages of  the  latter  character  were  ex- 
amined and  vised  by  the  military  censor. 

The  events  of  the  Spanish-American 
War  brought  to  attention  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  the  legal  rights  of  cable  property 


and  the  control  of  the  same  under  varying 
and  complex  conditions  in  time  of  war. 
In  the  absence  of  definite  international 
law  upon  the  many  points  involved,  the 
United  States  was  forced  to  take  the  ini- 
tiative and  use  this  powerful  military 
weapon  for  the  benefit  of  the  cause  of  the 
United  States,  while  at  the  same  time 
respecting  and  subserving  the  rights  of 
neutrals  with  an  equity  and  fairness  which 
has  always  characterized  the  actions  of 
this  Government  when  possible. 

In  the  West  Indian  cables,  as  well  as 
in  the  cable  connecting  the  Philippines 
with  Asia,  the  cable  question  was  always 
a  paramount  one,  and  the  United  States 
finds  herself  now  confronted  with  legal 
questions,  growing  out  of  actions  neces- 
sary in  time  of  war.  Since  submarine 
cables  have  become  such  a  dominant  in- 
fluence in  time  of  war,  and  since  the  cases 
which  may  naturally  arise  are  often  com- 
plex and  involved,  it  is  clear  that  a  further 
international  cable  conference  is  a  neces- 
sity of  the  near  future,  by  which  a  more 
definite  international  understanding  of 
methods  of  procedure  in  time  of  war  may 
be  attained.  This  international  confer- 
ence could  properly  consider  other  inter- 
national cable  matters,  which  the  great 
advance  in  submarine  telegraphy  has 
made  important.  Among  these  may  be 
mentioned  the  construction  and  authoriza- 
tion of  a  uniform  international  cable  code, 
for  the  economical  and  efficient  communi- 
cation between  different  parts  of  the 
world  in  any  of  the  principal  languages 
now  authorized  by  the  international  tele- 
graph rules. 

THE  CABLE  EQUIPMENT  OF  A  FLEET. 

It  seems  clear  from  the  history  of  the 
Spanish-American  War  that  provisions 
must  be  made  for  laying,  picking  up,  cut- 
ting, and  operating  submarine  cables  in 
time  of  war.  From  the  outbreak  of  this 
war  every  attention  was  given  to  the 
problem  of  isolating  the  island  of  Cuba 
from  Spain. 


THE   INFLUENCE   OF   SUBMARINE   CABLES 


ii 


The  special  fitting  out  of  the  Adria 
with  cable  appliances,  as  well  as  spare 
cable,  the  work  of  the  St.  Louis  in  cut- 
ting cables,  the  operations  of  the  Marble- 
head,  Nashville,  and  Window,  at  Cien- 
fuegos,  and  of  the  Mangrove,  are  too  well 
known  to  be  repeated  here.  It  will  be 
more  valuable  to  endeavor  to  draw  the 
correct  conclusion  from  these  operations, 
and  thereby  make  proper  provision  for  the 
execution  of  similar  operations  in  time 
of  war. 

It  appears  that  the  searching  for  deep- 
sea  cables  in  the  high  seas  in  time  of  war, 
without  an  accurate  chart  of  the  location 
of  the  cable,  is  a  difficult  and  very  doubt- 
ful operation ;  also  that  submarine  cables 
must  in  general  be  interrupted  near  their 
landing  places,  where  their  exact  location 
can  be  determined  with  certainty.  From 
the  experience  of  the  Spanish- American 
War,  operations  of  this  kind  are  extreme- 
ly dangerous,  as  the  cable  landing  will  be 
protected  and  defended  by  the  enemy. 

Supply  of  spare  cable  and  suitable  in- 
struments for  working  the  same  must  be 
available  with  every  naval  fleet — in  order 
to  supply  the  necessary  communications 
with  the  shore,  in  case  of  the  landing  of 
either  a  cooperating  army,  or  of  tempo- 
rary forces  from  the  ships.  Cable-ships 
engaged  in  either  laying,  cutting,  or  re- 
pairing cable  near  the  shore,  must  either 
be  provided  with  their  own  means  of  de- 
fence, or  else  convoyed  by  war-ships. 

These  facts  make  it  clear  that  a  new 
type  of  naval  ship  is  to  make  its  appear- 
ance as  a  necessary  adjunct  to  every  naval 
fleet.  Just  as  the  naval  repair-ship,  such 
as  the  Vulcan,  has  been  found  useful  and 
necessary,  so  will  the  new  cable  cruiser 
be  an  essential  part  of  the  navy  of  the 
near  future.  It  is  not  intended  here  to 
enter  into  the  question  of  the  proper  de- 
sign of  such  ships,  but  it  would  seem 
that  a  specially  designed  cable-ship,  with 
comparatively  large  coal  capacity  and 
high  speed,  and  an  armament  of  the 
lighter  cruiser  class,  making  her  capable 
of  defending  herself  and  protecting  her 


small-boat  parties,  would  be  best  adapted 
for  the  purpose.  She  must  carry  a  mod- 
erate supply  of  spare  cable  and  machin- 
ery for  laying  and  picking  up  cable,  as 
well  as  instruments  for  testing  and  op- 
erating a  cable,  and  the  necessary  buoys, 
suitable,  if  necessary,  for  buoying  the 
cable,  and  operating  the  ship  as  a  floating 
cable  station.  It  is  unnecessary  to  state, 
also,  that  her  personnel  must  be  specially 
trained  in  the  highly  technical  duties  re- 
quired, and  from  actual  practice  in  all  the 
operations  necessary,  be  made  ready  for 
the  performance  of  their  duties  efficiently 
under  the  conditions  of  war. 

Although  these  naval  cable  cruisers  in 
time  of  peace  could  be  profitably  em- 
ployed in  maintaining  and  repairing  both 
cables  belonging  exclusively  to  the  gov- 
ernment, and  those  subsidized  by  the  gov- 
ernment, under  suitable  arrangements, 
yet,  at  the  outbreak  of  war  they  should  be 
absolutely  and  exclusively  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  government.  It  may  be  said 
at  present  that  no  modern  fleet  is  com- 
plete without  a  cable-ship,  especially 
adapted  for  cable  operations  in  time  of 
war. 

Since  submarine  cables  are  so  impor- 
tant a  factor  in  national  defence,  they 
should  be  protected  both  at  their  shore 
landings  and  on  the  high  seas  by  military 
and  naval  force. 

In  this  connection  it  would  seem  advis- 
able in  case  of  government  cables,  or  of 
cables  subsidized  by  the  government,  to 
keep  the  exact  route  of  important  cables 
a  secret,  and  prevent  the  publication  of 
maps  for  general  distribution,  showing 
their  exact  location  in  the  deep  sea.  The 
location  of  the  shore  ends,  however,  is 
certain  to  be  known. 

A  cable  landing,  for  the  future,  should 
partake  of  the  character  of  a  fort,  and  be 
provided  with  adequate  means  for  pre- 
venting an  enemy  from  locating  and  de- 
stroying the  cable  within  the  marine 
league,  or,  until  it  has  reached  deep 
sea,  where  its  accurate  location  is  not 
known. 


12 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


The  sea  is  usually  considered  as  the 
i;ivat  international  highway,  belonging 
equally  to  all  nations;  this,  however,  is 
no  longer  true.  The  real  political  bound- 
aries of  states  are  no  longer  defined  and 
restricted  by  the  land,  but  involve  such 
portions  of  the  high  seas  as  a  nation  can, 
by  her  commercial  and  naval  vessels,  and 
her  submarine  cables,  reach  out  and  se- 
cure. In  this  great  sea  division,  which  is 
so  surely  taking  place,  probably  there  are 
no  better  guides  to  boundaries  than  the 
submarine  cable  net-works  which  lie  in  its 
great  depths.  Since  each  in  general  uses 
the  shortest  path  between  two  points,  the 
general  commercial  sailing  lines  are  also 
the  general  direction  of  cable  lines. 

The  United  States  will  be  wise  if,  in 
the  great  Pacific  where  she  has  such  para- 


mount natural  advantages,  both  for  com- 
merce and  for  maritime  strength,  she  pur- 
sues a  broad,  vigorous,  and  even  lavish 
"  cable  policy."  We  should  be  able  at  the 
earliest  date  to  manufacture  upon  Ameri- 
can soil  deep-sea  cables  of  the  first  class ; 
be  able  to  lay,  maintain,  and  repair  them 
in  time  of  peace  or  war  by  ships  flying 
the  American  flag,  and  be  prepared  to 
adequately  protect  them  upon  the  high 
seas,  and  at  their  landing  places  by  mili- 
tary and  naval  force. 

The  cable  question  is  one  of  the  most 
important  of  the  present  hour,  unique  in 
that  American  commerce,  diplomacy,  and 
sea-power — in  fact  the  most  efficient 
means  of  advancing  and  securing  the 
benefits  of  civilization  itself — happily  con- 
spire in  demanding  its  early  solution. 


THE    INDIAN    TRIBES    OF    SOUTHERN  PATA 

GONIA,  TIERRA  DEL  FUEGO,  AND 

THE  ADJOINING  ISLANDS 

BY  J.   B.   HATCHER 

Carnegie  Museum,  Pittsburg 


IT  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to 
record  some  observations  made  by 
the  writer  among  the  Indian  tribes 
of  Southern  South  America,  during  the 
three  years  of  exploration  conducted  by 
him  in  that  region  in  behalf  of  Princeton 
University.  The  country  occupied  by  the 
people  under  discussion  embraces  that 
part  of  South  America  lying  beyond  the 
forty-sixth  parallel  of  south  latitude,  in- 
cluding the  mainland  and  the  adjoining 
islands  as  far  south  as  Cape  Horn.  The 
people  living  in  this  region  belong  to  four 
distinct  tribes,  each  inhabiting  a  certain 
limited  area  and  differing  from  the  others 
in  language,  customs,  physical  develop- 
ment, and  especially  in  the  activities  nec- 


essary to,  and  the  mechanical  appliances 
employed  in,  the  gaining  of  a  livelihood. 

Owing  to  the  natural  barriers  to  social 
or  commercial  intercourse,  presented  by 
the  topography  of  the  region,  communi- 
cation between  the  different  tribes  is  now 
and  always  has  been  extremely  limited. 
This  long  period  of  comparative  isolation 
has,  with  one  exception,  permitted  each 
tribe  to  remain  practically  uninfluenced 
by  the  others,  and  has  doubtless  contrib- 
uted to  produce  those  linguistic  and  socio- 
logic  features  at  present  so  distinctive  of 
each. 

Commencing  with  the  mainland  we 
shall  first  consider  the  Tehuelches,  that 
so-called  race  of  giants,  made  famous 


THE   INDIAN   TRIBES   OF   SPUTHERN   PATAGONIA       13 


by  the  exaggerated  accounts  of  them 
brought  home  by  the  earliest  travellers 
from  Magellan's  time  to  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century.  Of  splendid  phy- 
sique, they  are  abundantly  able  to  with- 
stand the  rigorous  climate  of  the  bleak, 
treeless  plains  of  Eastern  Patagonia, 
where  they  live  and  find  ample  suste- 
nance and  wholesome  employment  in  the 
pursuit  and  capture  of  the  guanaco  and 
rhea ;  both  of  which  are  extremely  abun- 
dant throughout  the  entire  extent  of  this 
region. 

As  a  people,  though  not  the  race  of 
giants  they  were  commonly  reported  to 
be  by  most  early  writers,  the  Tehuelches 
are,  nevertheless,  decidedly  above  the 
average  size.  Of  the  three  hundred 
Tehuelches  living  between  the  Santa  Cruz 
River  and  the  Strait  of  Magellan,  I 
should  place  the  average  height  of  the 
men  at  not  less  than  five  feet  eleven 
inches,  with  an  average  weight  of  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds.  While 
the  fully  grown  women  (those  above 
twenty- four  years  of  age)  I  should  esti- 
mate at  five  feet  seven  inches,  and  of  an 
average  weight  of  but  little,  if  any,  short 
of  that  of  the  men.  This  lack  of  dis- 
parity between  the  physical  development 
of  the  sexes  is  paralleled  also  in  their 
mental  development.  It  is  noteworthy, 
and  is  due  very  largely  to  the  division  of 
labor  among  them.  The  labor  necessary 
for  the  support  of  the  family  is  more 
equally  divided  between  husband  and 
wife,  among  the  Tehuelches,  than  is  com- 
mon with  the  Indian  tribes  of  North 
America. 

That  these  Indians  are  muscular  and 
well  proportioned,  is  seen  by  a  glance  at 
the  illustrations  accompanying  this  paper. 
There  is  a  tendency  to  obesity  rather  than 
angularity.  Conscious  of  their  physical 
strength,  like  most  persons  of  great 
physique  even  among  the  more  civilized 
nations,  they  exhibit  a  kindly  manner  and 
gentle  disposition.  Accustomed  to  the 
free  life  of  the  plains,  and  living  in  the 
midst  of  an  abundance  of  those  animals 


that  for  centuries  have  supplied  all  their 
simple  wants,  they  display  that  homely 
hospitality  so  characteristic  of  %  well-fed 
and  well-clothed  savage  and  semi-civil- 
ized people  in  sparsely  settled  countries. 
The  frank,  open  countenance  of  the 
Tehuelche  at  once  allays  any  uneasiness 
and  establishes  a  feeling  of  confidence  in 
the  mind  of  the  solitary  traveller  who,  in 
the  course  of  his  lonely  wanderings 
throughout  Patagonia  may,  by  chance  or 
necessity,  be  thrown  among  them. 

The  Tehuelches  were  formerly  a  con- 
siderably more  numerous  people  than  at 
present,  though  it  is  hardly  possible  that 
they  at  any  time  numbered  more  than 
5,000.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  are  more 
than  five  hundred  of  them  remaining  in 
all  Patagonia,  and  this  small  number  is 
being  rapidly  reduced  by  diseases  intro- 
duced among  them  through  contact  with 
the  whites.  That  they  are  not  a  prolific 
people  is  strikingly  evidenced  by  the  small 
number  of  children  common  to  pure-bred 
Tehuelche  families.  In  cases  where  both 
parents  were  of  pure  Tehuelche  stock,  I 
do  not  remember  to  have  seen  more  than 
three  children  in  any  one  family,  while 
one  or  two  were  much  more  generally  the 
number,  and  frequently  there  were  fami- 
lies with  no  children.  On  the  other  hand 
in  those  families  where  a  Tehuelche 
woman  was  married  to  a  husband  of 
Spanish,  French,  or  Portuguese  descent, 
such  unions  were,  as  a  rule,  ordinarily 
productive  of  offspring,  there  being  fre- 
quently six  or  seven  children  to  the  fam- 
ily. 

Firearms  are  quite  unknown  among  the 
southern  Tehuelches.  They  rely  entirely 
upon  their  skill  with  the  bolas,  aided  by 
their  horses  and  dogs,  for  the  capture  of 
the  guanaco  and  rhea,  from  which  they 
derive  not  only  their  chief  sustenance,  but 
also  the  skins  employed  in  the  construc- 
tion of  their  clothing,  bedding,  and  tents 
or  toldos.  Formerly  they  used  the  bow 
and  arrow,  but  with  the  introduction  of 
the  horse  at  the  advent  of  the  Spaniard, 
the  bola  entirely  supplanted  the  bow  and 


14- 


TH  E   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


arrow,  and  at  present  the  latter  weapon 
is  no  longer  seen  among  them. 

The  changes  wrought  upon  the  Te- 
huelches  by  the  advent  of  the  horse,  is  a 
subject  well  worthy  of  the  attention  of 
the  anthropologist.  To  this  professional 
capacity  I  lay  no  claim,  but  I  wish  to  men- 
tion some  observations  made  by  myself 
bearing  directly  upon  this  subject.  Not 
only  was  the  advent  of  the  horse  the  de- 
termining factor  in  supplanting  the  bow 
and  arrow  by  the  bola  among  these  Ind- 
ians, but  the  introduction  of  that  useful 
animal  produced  other  most  decided 
changes  in  the  life  and  habits  of  the 
Tehuelches.  Prior  to  the  introduction  of 
the  horse  they  were  dependent  upon  the 
bow  and  arrow  not  only  for  securing  their 
food  and  clothing,  but  also  for  protecting 
themselves  from  the  more  numerous  and 
warlike  Indians  who  inhabited  the  coun- 
try to  the  north,  and  with  whom  they 
were  constantly  at  war.  Greatly  out- 
numbered by  a  deadly  enemy  and  de- 
prived of  any  rapid  means  of  escape  if 
attacked  by  a  superior  force,  their  favorite 
camping  places  were  then  chosen  with  ref- 
erence to  concealment  and  defence,  quite 
as  much  as,  or  even  more  than,  for  their 
convenience  to  natural  food  supplies.  In 
those  pre-equine  days,  if  I  may  use  the 
term,  the  Tehuelche  was  wont  to  select 
for  his  encampment  a  secluded  place  in 
the  bottom  of  some  deep  basalt  canon, 
adjacent  to  a  stream  or  small  spring,  or 
if  living  on  one  of  the  larger  rivers,  the 
encampment  would  be  situated  not  in  a 
conspicuous  place  in  the  bottom  of  the 
valley,  convenient  to  an  abundance  of 
grass  and  water,  as  at  present,  but  would 
be  hidden  away  in  some  bend  of  the 
stream  or  placed  high  up  among  the 
debris  of  basaltic  rocks  that  encumber 
the  slopes  of  most  of  the  more  important 
streams  of  the  Patagonian  plains.  In 
such  positions  their  low,  box-like  toldos, 
made  of  gtianaco  skins  of  a  dull  brown 
color,  would  not  be  easily  detected. 

Many  such  old  camping  places  may 
now  be  seen,  strewn  with  pieces  of  broken 


pottery,  worn  out  and  discarded  stone 
scrapers,  stone  chippings,  arrow  points, 
drills,  mortars,  etc.  A  site  of  one  of  these 
old-time  Indian  villages  I  examined  very 
carefully.  The  bottom  of  the  canon 
bears  unmistakable  evidence  of  having 
been  long  used  as  a  favorite  camp- 
ing ground  of  the  Tehuelches.  The 
soil  over  a  considerable  area  is  literally 
rilled  and  covered  with  stone  chippings, 
scrapers,  broken  pottery,  broken  and 
charred  fragments  of  bones  of  mammals, 
birds  and  fishes,  the  latter  taken  from  the 
stream  which  still  flows  between  the  vil- 
lage site  and  the  high  bluff  beyond. 

At  this  place  I  picked  up  about  two 
hundred  arrow  points  and  drills,  most  of 
them  imperfect,  but  did  not  find  a  single 
bola.  Is  it  not  possible  that  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  horse  brought  about  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  bow  and  arrow  and  the  adop- 
tion of  the  bola  as  a  weapon  of  offence 
and  defence?  The  bola,  considering  the 
limit  of  its  effective  range,  and  the  time 
necessarily  consumed  in  attaining  a  suffi- 
cient impetus  before  discharging  it,  cer- 
tainly does  not  appear  to  be  especially 
well  adapted  for  the  capture,'  by  a  man  on 
foot,  of  animals  possessed  of  such  speed 
and  endurance  as  are  the  guanaca  and 
rhea.  Whether  the  bola  was  in  use  among 
these  Indians  prior  to  the  advent  of  the 
horse,  can  perhaps  never  be  definitely  de- 
termined, but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
as  an  implement  for  the  capture  of  game, 
it  came  into  far  more  general  use  after  the 
introduction  of  the  horse,  when  it  began 
gradually  to  displace  the  bow  and  arrow, 
finally  resulting  in  the  total  disappearance 
of  the  latter  weapon.  Throughout  my 
travels  in  Patagonia  I  was  struck  by  the 
almost  total  absence  of  bola  stones  about 
the  old  village  sites,  where  arrow  points 
were  as  a  rule  found  in  unusual  abun- 
dance. The  place  just  referred  to  was 
evidently  long  occupied  as  a  favorite  en- 
campment. That  it  has  been  long  aban- 
doned is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
over  considerable  areas  implement-bear- 
ing strata  are  buried  beneath  several  feet 


THE   INDIAN   TRIBES   OF   SOUTHERN   PATAGONIA        15 


of  seolian  drift  materials.  Moreover,  the 
locality  is  one  absolutely  unfitted  as  a 
camping  place  for  the  present  Indians,  ac- 


The  coming  of  the  Spaniard  among  the 
Tehuelches  has  resulted  in  the  disap- 
pearance of  still  other  implements  than 


Channel    Indians  of  the   West  Coast  and   Western    Part  of  Strait  of 

Magellan. 

companied  as  each  hand  invariably  is  by  the  bow  and  arrow.    Scattered  about  the 

several  hundred  horses,  thus  necessitating  old  village  sites  are  numerous  pieces  of 

the  selection  of  a  site  near  abundant  graz-  broken  pottery,  though  the  manufacture 

ing  lands.  of  pottery   is  now   a  lost  art   with  the 


i6 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


Tehuelches.  Upon  examination  of  many 
of  the  more  perfect  of  these  earthen  ves- 
sels, it  was  found  that  they  were  punct- 
ured with  a  series  of  small  holes  in  the 
bottom,  and  that  the  surface  of  the  in- 
terior, over  the  bottom  and  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  sides  also,  was  blackened 
and  charred,  thus  bearing  unmistakable 
evidence  of  having  been  subjected  to  the 
continued  action  of  fire.  It  occurred  to 
me  that  such  earthen  vessels  were  used 
for  conveying  fire  from  one  encampment 
to  another  when  on  the  march.  Upon  in- 
quiry I  was  pleased  to  hear  this  theory 
confirmed  by  an  aged  Tehuelche  woman 
\vho  remembered  distinctly  that  in  her 
childhood  fire  was  frequently  transported 
with  them  when  on  the  march. 

The  Tehuelches  find  their  chief  em- 
ployment in  hunting  the  guanaco  and  rhea 
or  South  American  ostrich.  The  region 
inhabited  by  them  extends  northward 
from  the  Strait  of  Magellan  along  the 
western  border  of  that  part  of  the  country 
occupied  by  the  prosperous  Patagonian 
sheep  farmers,  and  which  lies  adjacent  to 
the  Atlantic  coast.  This  sheep-farming 
district  extends  westward  from  the  coast 
for  an  average  distance  of  about  thirty 
miles.  Between  this  thirty-mile  strip  and 
the  Andes  is  the  home  of  the  Tehuelche. 
Of  the  habitable  portions  of  the  earth's 
surface,  it  is  perhaps  the  most  sparsely  set- 
tled of  all.  Notwithstanding  its  natural  re- 
sources, over  thousands  of  square  miles  are 
entirely  uninhabited.  For  the  most  part, 
it  is  indeed  comparatively  barren,  as  in 
the  lava  beds  of  the  central  interior  region, 
but  to  the  westward  over  the  lower  slopes 
of  the  Andes  and  in  the  valleys  entering 
the  mountains,  there  are  exceedingly  fer- 
tile regions,  capable  of  supporting  con- 
siderable populations,  but  at  present  quite 
unoccupied  by  either  Indians  or  Euro- 
peans. The  writer,  together  with  Mr.  O. 
A.  Peterson,  spent  five  months  of  travel 
during  the  summer  of  1896-97  in  the 
country  lying  between  the  sources  of  the 
Santa  Cruz  and  Desire  Rivers  without 
encountering  either  whites  or  natives. 


The  Tehuelche  is  and  always  has  been 
a  plainsman.  His  methods  and  the  im- 
plements employed  by  him  in  the  chase 
are  designed  for  a  level  open  country, 
and  are  not  adapted  to  rough,  mountain- 
ous, or  wooded  districts.  Greatly  reduced 
in  numbers  he  finds  the  area  still  left  to 
him  in  his  natural  habitat  more  than  am- 
ple to  supply  his  simple  wants  and  satisfy 
his  inherent,  nomadic  disposition.  Left 
to  himself,  his  necessities  are  few  and 
easily  supplied,  for  nature  in  Patagonia  is 
exceedingly  lavish  in  furnishing  those 
animals  that  provide  him  with  every  do- 
mestic necessity.  Give  to  the  Tehuelche 
his  horse,  dogs,  and  bolas,  and  destroy  all 
other  animal  life  indigenous  to  the  region 
save  only  the  guanaco,  and  he  would  con- 
tinue to  exist,  experiencing  little  incon- 
venience. 

The  guanaco  is  to  his  existence  the 
one  important  and  indispensable  animal. 
From  its  flesh  he  derives  his  chief  and  for 
long  periods  only  sustenance,  while  from 
its  skin  his  industrious  wife  constructs  the 
family  toldo  and  makes  with  admirable 
skill  and  patience  their  ample  clothing  and 
bedding,  fitting  and  sewing  the  parts  with 
the  nicety  and  proficiency  of  a  skilled 
seamstress.  A  wooden  or  bone  awl  used 
as  a  delicate  punch  is  her  needle,  and  the 
sinew  taken  from  the  loin  of  the  same  ani- 
mal her  thread.  From  this  same  beast  he 
likewise  obtains  the  sinew  for  the  light  but 
exceedingly  strong  thongs  of  his  bolas. 

But  the  guanacos  are  in  no  danger  of 
extinction.  They  roam  in  thousands  over 
the  Patagonian  plains.  So  abundant  are 
they  that  in  travelling  across  the  country 
it  is  scarcely  possible  to  pass  out  of  sight 
of  them.  Contrary  to  the  general  rule 
with  undomesticated  animals,  the  guana- 
cos  inhabiting  settled  regions  are  far  less 
timid  than  those  of  unsettled  districts.  In 
that  region  along  the  coast  occupied  by 
the  sheep  fanners,  they  exist  in  great 
numbers,  are  exceedingly  tame,  and  are 
a  source  of  considerable  annoyance  to  the 
herdsmen,  who  nevertheless  suffer  them 
to  go  unmolested. 


<u 

3 
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i8 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


Beyond  the  settlements  the  guanacos 
are  more  difficult  of  approach,  and  in  the 
Cordillera  they  are  exceedingly  wary,  as 
is  also  the  rhea  or  so-called  ostrich.  This 
is  the  more  striking  and  difficult  of  ex- 
planation since  the  deer  in  the  same  moun- 
tainous region  seem  absolutely  fearless 
and  prompted  by  curiosity  rather  than 
fear  when  approached.  On  several  occa- 
sions, when  in  need  of  meat  while  travel- 
ling through  the  Southern  Andes,  we  lo- 
cated a  band  of  deer  and  walked  directly 
up  to  within  twenty  or  thirty  feet  of  them 
before  shooting.  Neither  the  report  of 
the  rifle  nor  the  death-struggles  of  their 
companion  aroused  in  them  any  apparent 
feeling  of  uneasiness.  The  surviving 
members  of  the  band  stood  about  at  a  dis- 
tance of  only  a  few  feet,  taking  notes  as 
it  were,  while  we  were  engaged  in  skin- 
ning and  dressing  the  carcass  of  their 
fallen  comrade,  often  approaching  so  near 
that  we  would  be  compelled  to  suspend 
operations  and  urge  the  spectators  to  re- 
move to  a  more  respectful  distance. 

THE  ONAS  OF  THE  FUEGIAN  PLAINS. 

Closely  resembling  the  Tehuelches  and 
evidently  derived  from  the  same  original 
stock,  are  the  Onas,  inhabiting  the  plains 
and  timbered  regions  of  central,  northern, 
and  eastern  Tierra  del  Fuego.  Like  the 
Tehuelches  they  are  of  splendid  physique 
and  live  entirely  by  the  chase.  They  are 
essentially  a  plains  people  and  only  occa- 
sionally frequent  the  coast.  Their  island 
having  been  separated  from  the  mainland 
for  a  remote  period  of  time,  they  have 
been  practically  cut  off  from  all  commu- 
nication with  their  relatives  on  the  north- 
ern shores  of  the  eastern  stretches  of  the 
Strait,  and  have  thus  developed  a  lan- 
guage quite  distinct  from  that  of  the 
Tehuelches,  while  many  of  their  customs 
and  arts  differ  materially  from  those  of 
the  latter.  Not  being  a  maritime  people, 
they  have  been  unable  to  import  the  horse 
from  the  mainland,  so  that  the  Onas  of  to- 
day are  in  much  the  same  condition  as 


were  the  Tehuelches  of  the  mainland  prior 
to  the  introduction  of  the  horse.  With 
the  Onas  the  bow  and  arrow  is  still  the 
one  indispensable  weapon  for  offence  and 
defence,  while  bolas  and  horses  are  quite 
unknown  among  them. 

Owing  to  the  extremely  advantageous 
nature  of  their  lands  for  sheep-farming 
purposes  and  the  consequent  aggressive- 
ness of  the  Fuegian  sheep-grower  of  the 
present  day,  the  tribe  is  being  rapidly 
decimated,  and  their  extinction  in  the  no 
distant  future  seems  inevitable.  Already 
their  natural  habitat  is  entirely  occupied 
by  Europeans,  and  they  have  been  driven 
back  into  less  favorable  districts  where 
food  is  scarce  and  obtained  with  difficulty. 
Naturally  a  state  of  constant  warfare  ex- 
ists which  will  inevitably  lead  to  the  ex- 
termination of  the  Onas. 

THE  CHANNEL  INDIANS. 

Between  the  eastern  and  western  coasts 
of  Patagonia  and  Tierra  del  Fuego  there 
are  extreme  climatic  and  physiographic 
differences.  The  treeless,  semi-arid,  and 
level  plains  of  the  east  coast,  with  but  few 
indentations,  are  replaced  on  the  west  by 
an  intricate  series"  of  islands,  peninsulas, 
capes,  and  promontories,  separated  by  a 
labyrinth  of  inlets,  bays,  sounds,  and 
channels,  surrounded  by  one  of  the  most 
picturesque  and  rugged  mountain  systems 
to  be  seen  anywhere  on  the  earth's  surface. 
These  mountains  serve  as  a  barrier  to  the 
southwesterly  winds  that  prevail  here, 
and  effectually  deprive  them,  during  the 
passage  over  their  summits,  of  most  of 
the  moisture  with  which  they  have  become 
charged  on  their  long  journey  across  the 
Southern  Pacific.  Thus  precipitation  is 
constantly  taking  place,  and  the  surface 
is  perpetually  drenched  with  moisture, 
thereby  producing  a  vegetable  growth, 
which  at  low  altitudes,  even  in  the  latitude 
of  the  south  and  west  coasts  of  Tierra  del 
Fuego,  rivals  in  profusion  and  luxuriance 
that  of  the  Tropics.  It  contrasts  strik- 
ingly with  the  eastern  plains  and  river  val- 
leys, which  are  destitute  of  trees  or  forests 


A  Tehuelche   Brave — Twenty-five  Years  of  Age. 


2O 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


and  where  the  annual  precipitation  is  just 
sufficient  to  support  a  few  species  of  short 
but  succulent  grasses,  with  occasional 
clumps  of  low,  scrubby,  and  usually 
thorny  bushes,  characteristic  features  of 
semi-arid  regions. 

The  natives  of  the  Pacific  coast  differ 
from  those  of  the  Atlantic  quite  as  much 
as  do  the  climate,  vegetation,  and  physio- 
graphic features.  The' natives  of  the  west 
coast,  while  belonging  to  at  least  two  dis- 
tinct tribes,  may  be  very  appropriately 
denominated,  collectively,  as  Channel 
Indians.  All  their  activities  cluster  about 
the  coast.  They  live  on  and  about  the 
shores  of  the  inland  waters  of  the 
Fuegian  Archipelago  and  the  west  coast 
of  Patagonia,  never  venturing  inland  for 
more  than  a  few  miles.  They  are  essen- 
tially a  maritime  people,  deriving  their 
chief  and  almost  only  sustenance  from  the 
sea.  They  are  small  in  stature  and  in- 
ferior in  physique  to  the  Tehuelches  and 
Onas  of  the  Patagonian  and  Fuegian 
plains,  and  their  origin  has  undoubtedly 
been  quite  distinct  from  that  of  the  latter 
tribes. 

For  houses  they  usually  erect  exceed- 
ingly primitive  structures  formed  of  inter- 
woven or piled-up branches  of  trees,  which 
would  seem,  even  to  most  semi-civilized 
peoples,  quite  inefficient  protection  from 
the  storms  that  almost  constantly  prevail 
here.  They  find  their  chief  occupation  in 
collecting  shell-fish,  in  fishing,  and  in 
hunting  the  fur-seal  and  sea-otters.  From 
the  skins  they  make  their  scanty  clothing, 
while  the  flesh  and  blubber  serve  them  as 
additional  food. 

The  chief  food  of  the  Channel  Indians 
is  the  shell-fish  that  live  in  great  abun- 
dance in  the  waters  of  this  coast.  When 
the  supply  of  shell-fish  of  any  particular 
cove  which  may  have  been  selected  as  a 
camping-place  by  a  party  of  these  Indians 
becomes  reduced,  they  place  their  few  do- 
mestic necessaries  in  their  canoes  and 
proceed  by  water  to  a  new  encampment 
where  food  is  abundant.  In  this  manner 
they  move  about  from  place  to  place  in 


order  to  procure  sufficient  food.  They 
eat  their  food  either  raw  or  slightly 
roasted  on  fires  that  are  kept  constantly 
burning  on  a  few  sods  placed  in  the  bot- 
toms of  their  canoes.  They  are  not  en- 
tirely carnivorous,  frequently  varying 
their  diet  by  the  addition  of  a  few  species 
of  edible  fungi  that  grow  on  the  beech- 
trees  of  the  adjacent  forests. 

Their  canoes  are  fashioned  of  large 
slabs  of  bark  supported  by  numerous  ribs 
of  wood  and  sewed  together  with  thin 
strips  of  whalebone.  Sometimes  they  use, 
instead  of  bark,  thin  slabs  of  wood  hewn 
out  with  great  patience.  One  or  two  in- 
stances of  true  dugouts  have  been  re- 
ported among  the  Yahgans  inhabiting  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  south  coast  of 
Tierra  del  Fuego  and  the  islands  about 
Cape  Horn.  Their  harpoons  and  spears 
are  almost  always  of  bone. 

The  Channel  Indians  are  of  two  distinct 
tribes,  differing  in  language,  though  for 
the  most  part  quite  similar  in  their  mode 
of  life  and  in  the  arts  employed  by  them 
in  the  gaining  of  a  livelihoqd.  The  more 
numerous  and  more  warlike  and  power- 
ful of  these  tribes  are  known  as  the  Alac- 
uloffs.  They  occupy  all  the  west  coast  of 
the  mainland  together  with  the  adjacent 
islands,  the  western  stretches  of  the  Strait 
of  Magellan,  southern  and  western  Tierra 
del  Fuego  as  far  east  as  Beagle  Channel, 
and  the  islands  lying  to  the  southwest. 
The  remaining  south  coast  of  Tierra  del 
Fuego  and  the  adjoining  islands  as  far 
south  as  Cape  Horn  are  the  home  of  the 
Yahgans,  formerly  the  most  powerful  of 
all  the  Indian  tribes  of  this  region,  but 
now  nearly  exterminated  by  the  combined 
attacks  of  the  Onas  and  Alaculoffs,  aided 
by  diseases,  chiefly  pulmonary,  introduced 
among  them  through  the  mistaken  kind- 
nesses of  over-zealous  missionaries,  them- 
selves exceedingly  deficient  in  the  first 
principles  of  hygiene. 

The  Yahgans  are  doubtless  only  a  rem- 
nant of  a  once  powerful  people  that  in- 
habited the  region  now  occupied  by  the 
Alaculoffs.  They  have  been  crowded  into 


Tehuelche  Squaw. 


22 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


narrower  and  narrower  limits  until  finally 
reduced  to  their  present  territory.  That 
they  have  long  dwelt  in  their  present 
hahitat  is  evidenced  by  the  numerous 
shell-heaps  that  have  been  accumulated 
u!><>ut  the  more  favorable  camping  places 
along  the  bays  and  inlets  of  this  coast. 


These  shell-heaps  or  kitchen-middens 
have  been  observed  attaining  to  a  height 
of  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  and  to  more  than 
one  hundred  feet  in  length.  The  time 
consumed  in  the  accumulation  of  such 
quantities  of  shells  indicates  for  them  a 
considerable  antiquity. 


LOCATION  OF  THE  BOUNDARY  BETWEEN 
NICARAGUA  AND  COSTA  RICA 

BY  ARTHUR  P.  DAVIS,  CHIEF  HVDROGRAPHER,  ISTHMIAN  CANAL 

COMMISSION 


THE  promise  which  the  construc- 
tion of  a  water-way  gives  of 
increased  development  and  com- 
mercial importance  to  the  Central  Ameri- 
can republics,  has  been  a  source  of  con- 
siderable jealousy  between  Nicaragua  and 
Costa  Rica,  and  until  recently  there  was 
continual  dispute  over  the  boundary  line 
between  these  republics,  each  being  anx- 
ious to  preserve  and  increase  its  terri- 
torial interests  in  proximity  to  the  pro- 
posed canal  route.  Both  states  had  been 
wrought  up  by  years  of  fruitless  negotia- 
tions to  a  state  of  readiness  for  war  in 
defence  of  what  they  considered  their 
rights.  In  fact,  war  had  actually  been 
declared  by  Nicaragua  on  November  25, 
1857,  when,  through  the  mediation  of 
the  Republic  of  Salvador,  a  final  effort 
to  avert  it  was  made.  Another  conven- 
tion was  held  and  a  definite  treaty  was 
concluded  between  the  two  republics  in 
April,  1858,  Article  2  of  which  runs  as 
follows : 

"  The  dividing  line  of  the  two  republics, 
starting  from  the  northern  sea,  shall 
commence  from  the  extremity  of  Castilla 
Point,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  San  Juan 
of  Nicaragua,  and  shall  continue  its  course 
along  the  right  margin  of  said  river  to  a 
point  3  English  miles  distant  from  the 


Castillo  Viejo,  measured  from  the  ex- 
terior fortifications  of  said  castle  to  the 
point  indicated.  From  there  a  curve  will 
start,  the  centre  of  which  shall  be  said 
works,  and  shall  preserve  a  distance  of  3 
English  miles  from  it  throughout  its  de- 
velopment, terminating  at  a  point  which 
shall  be  2  miles  distant  from  the  bank 
of  the  river,  upstream  from  the  castle. 
From  there  the  line  shall  continue  in  the 
direction  of  the  Sapoa  River,  which  emp- 
ties into  Lake  Nicaragua,  following  a 
course  almost  2  miles  distant  from  the 
right  margin  of  the  Rio  San  Juan,  with 
its  circumvolutions,  to  its  origin  at  the 
lake,  and  of  the  right  margin  of  the  lake 
itself  to  the  said  Sapoa  River,  where  this 
line,  parallel  to  said  margins,  will  termi- 
nate. From  the  point  of  intersection  with 
the  Sapoa  River,  which,  from  what  has 
been  said,  should  be  2  miles  distant  from 
the  lake,  a  right  astronomical  line  shall  be 
drawn  to  the  central  point  of  Salinas  Bay, 
in  the  southern  sea,  where  the  demarca- 
tion of  the  territory  of  the  two  republics 
shall  terminate." 

This  boundary  was  for  many  years  un- 
surveyed,  and  after  the  treaty  of  1858  a 
change  occurred  in  the  regimen  of  the 
San  Juan,  by  which  the  main  portion  of 
its  waters,  instead  4$  flowing  to  the  sea 


BOUNDARY   BETWEEN   NICARAGUA   AND  COSTA   RICA     23 


at  San  Juan  del  Norte,  as  formerly,  fol- 
lowed another  course  to  the  ocean,  known 
as  the  Colorado  River,  while  the  lower 
San  Juan,  which  was  formerly  the  main 
stream,  became  a  subordinate  distribu- 
tary. This  led  to  a  new  dispute,  Nicara- 
gua claiming  that  the  main  stream,  or 
Colorado  River,  was  the  true  boundary, 
and  calling  in  question  in  general  the 
validity  of  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of 
1858.  This  dispute  was  submitted  to  the 
arbitration  of  President  Cleveland,  who 
made  an  award  on  March  22,  1888,  de- 
claring the  treaty  to  be  valid,  and  the  old 
or  San  Juan  River  to  be  the  line.  This 
decision  was  accepted  by  both  republics, 
and  at  their  request  an  umpire  was  ap- 
pointed by  President  Cleveland  to  decide 
doubtful  points  during  the  survey  of  the 
boundary  line.  General  E.  P.  Alexander, 
of  North  Carolina,  was  appointed  to  fill 
this  position,  and  the  boundary  line  has 
recently  been  surveyed. 

During  the  progress  of  this  survey  sev- 
eral interesting  points  of  difference  arose 
between  the  representatives  of  Nicaragua 
and  Costa  Rica,  which  were  decided  by 
the  arbitrator  to  the  satisfaction  of  both 
parties.  The  first  point,  and  a  very  impor- 
tant one,  related  to  the  point  of  beginning, 
called  in  the  treaty  "  Punta  de  Castilla." 
The  lower  San  Juan,  after  separating 
from  the  Colorado,  flows  toward  Grey- 
town  for  a  considerable  distance  and  then 
sends  a  small  distributary  to  the  ocean 
called  the  Tauro.  The  main  river  reaches 
the  Caribbean  near  Greytown,  through 
two  mouths  with  an  insular  delta  between 
them. 

Nicaragua  claimed  that  the  mouth  of 
the  Tauro  should  be  considered  as  the 
mouth  of  the  San  Juan,  and  that  the  point 
of  beginning  was  at  the  right  bank  of  the 
mouth  of  this  distributary,  but  there 
seems  to  have  been  little  basis  for  this 
claim. 

Costa  Rica  claimed  as  the  starting  point 
the  western  extremity  of  the  deltaic  isl- 
and, the  base  of  this  claim  being  that  this 
was  the  right  bartfc  of  the  mouth  of  the 


main  San  Juan  and  that  it  had  been  called 
Punta  de  Castilla  by  three  authorities 
cited,  one  of  them  being  a  prominent 
Nicaraguan  politician,  Mr.  J.  A.  Gamez. 

The  arbitrator  pointed  out,  however, 
that  a  large  array  of  authority,  including 
nearly  all  public  maps,  called  this  Punta 
Arenas,  and  that  if  such  an  important  con- 
cession had  been  made  by  Nicaragua  the 
representatives  of  Costa  Rica  would  cer- 
tainly have  insisted  upon  mentioning  the 
name  "  Punta  Arenas  "  in  the  treaty,  and 
similarly,  if  the  Tauro  had  been  intended, 
the  representative  of  Nicaragua  would 
certainly  have  insisted  upon  the  insertion 
of  that  name ;  but  neither  of  these  names 
occur  in  the  treaty.  The  point  which  was 
the  extremity  of  the  headland  of  Punta 
de  Castilla  in  1858  has  now  long  been 
swept  over  by  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  so 
many  changes  have  occurred  in  the  shore 
outline  that  it  is  not  now  possible  to  lo- 
cate the  exact  spot.  The  arbitrator  there- 
fore decided  that  "  under  these  circum- 
stances it  best  fulfils  the  demands  of  the 
treaty  and  of  President  Cleveland's  award 
to  adopt  what  is  properly  the  Headland 
of  to-day ;  or  the  northwestern  extremity 
of  what  seems  to  be  the  solid  land  on  the 
east  side  of  Harbour  Head  Lagoon;  and 
the  initial  line  of  the  boundary  to  run  as 
follows,  to-wit: 

"  Its  direction  shall  be  due  northeast 
and  southwest,  across  the  bank  of  sand, 
from  the  Caribbean  Sea  into  the  waters  of 
Harbour  Head  Lagoon. 

.  "  It  shall  pass,  at  its  nearest  point,  three 
hundred  (300)  feet  on  the  northwest  side 
from  the  small  hut  now  standing  in  that 
vicinity. 

"  On  reaching  the  waters  of  Harbour 
Head  Lagoon  the  Boundary  Line  shall 
turn  to  the  left,  or  south-eastward,  and 
shall  follow  the  water's  edge  around  the 
Harbour,  until  it  reaches  the  river  proper 
by  the  first  channel  met. 

"  Up  this  channel,  and  up  the  river 
proper,  the  line  shall  continue  to  ascend 
as  directed  in  the  Treaty." 

The  next  point  of  difference  was  that 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


with  regard  to  the  edge  of  the  river,  Nica- 
ragua claiming  that  it  should  be  the  edge 
at  high  water  and  Costa  Rica  claiming 
the  edge  at  low  water.  Both  claims  were 
overruled,  that  of  Nicaragua  including 
as  a  portion  of  the  river  large  areas  of 
land  covered  with  vegetation  submerged 
at  extreme  high  water,  and  Costa  Rica's 
including  within  her  territory  numerous 
islands  which  were  connected  to  the  land 
by  sand-bars,  exposed  at  extreme  low 
water.  As  the  river  was  referred  to  in 
the  treaty  always  as  a  navigable  stream, 
General  Alexander  decided  the  line  to  be 
that  indicated  by  the  surface  of  the  water 
at  the  lowest  navigable  stage  of  the  river, 
which  is  rather  above  the  average  height, 
the  lower  river  being  scarcely  navigable 
at  mean  stages. 

The  survey  followed  this  line  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  river  to  a  point  three 
English  miles  below  the  Castillo  Viejo. 
Here  the  line  left  the  river,  the  point  be- 
ing marked  by  a  large  concrete  monu- 
ment. From  here,  owing  to  the  dense 
tropical  jungle,  the  line  was  not  actually 
run,  but  points  upon  the  line  were  located 
on  streams,  and  at  other  places  whicji 
were  accessible  either  by  boat  or  by  land, 
and  every  foot  of  the  line  from  Castillo 
to  the  Pacific  is  located  by  a  compromise 
of  the  engineers. 

Another  important  point  of  difference 
was  with  regard  to  the  definition  of  the 
expression  "  the  right  margin  or  Lake 
Nicaragua."  The  argument  and  award  of 
General  Alexander  are  as  follows : 

"  Under  the  influence  of  rainy  seasons 
of  about  seven  months,  and  dry  seasons  of 
about  five,  the  level  of  Lake  Nicaragua 
is  in  constant  fluctuation.  We  shall  have 
to  discuss  five  different  stages. 

"  i st.  Extreme  high  water;  the  level 
reached  only  in  years  of  maximum  rain- 
fall, or  some  extraordinary  conditions. 

"  2nd.  Mean  high  water ;  the  average 
high  level  of  average  years. 

"  3rd.  Mean  low  water ;  the  average 
low  level  of  average  years. 

"  4th.  Extreme  low  water ;  the  lowest 


level  reached  in  years  of  minimum  rain- 
fall, or  other  extraordinary  conditions. 

"  5th.  Mean  water ;  the  average  be- 
tween mean  high  water  and  mean  low 
water. 

"  The  argument  presented  to  me  in  be- 
half of  Nicaragua  claims  that  the  level  to 
be  adopted  in  this  case  should  be  the  first 
level  named,  to-wit :  extreme  high  water. 
It  argues  that  this  line  and  this  line  alone 
is  the  true  limit  of  what  the  argument  calls 
the  '  bed  of  the  lake.'  Costa  Rica  claims 
the  adoption  of  the  third  level,  to-wit: 
mean  low  water.  This  is  argued  prin- 
cipally upon  two  grounds:  First,  it  is 
shown  by  a  great  number  of  legal  deci- 
sions that,  in  most  states,  all  water  boun- 
daries are  invariably  held  to  run  at  either 
extreme  or  mean  low  water.  Second,  it 
is  claimed  that,  in  case  of  any  doubt, 
Costa  Rica  is  entitled  to  its  benefits,  as 
she  is  conceding  territory  geographically 
hers. 

"  I  will  begin  with  Costa  Rica's  first 
argument.  The  equity  of  adopting  a  low 
water  line  in  the  case  of  all  water  boun- 
daries is  readily  admitted,  even  though  in- 
stances of  contrary  practice  exist. 

"  Between  all  permanent  lands  and 
permanent  waters  usually  runs  a  strip  of 
land,  sometimes  dry  and  sometimes  sub- 
merged. We  may  call  it,  for  short,  semi- 
submerged.  Its  value  for  ordinary  pur- 
poses is  much  diminished  by  its  liability 
to  overflow,  but,  as  an  adjunct  to  the  per- 
manent land,  it  possesses,  often,  very 
great  value.  If  the  owner *of  the  perma- 
nent land  can  fence  across  the  semi-sub- 
merged he  may  save  fencing  his  entire 
water  front.  He  also  can  utilize  what- 
ever agricultural  value  may  be  in  the  semi- 
submerged  land  in  dry  seasons.  Both  of 
these  values  would  be  destroyed  and 
wasted  if  the  ownerships  were  conferred 
upon  the  owner  of  the  water.  Therefore 
equity  always,  and  law  generally,  confers 
it  upon  the  owner  of  the  permanent  land. 

"  I  recognized  and  followed  this  prin- 
ciple in  my  award,  No.  3,  where  I  held 
that  the  boundary  line  following  the  right 


BOUNDARY   BETWEEN   NICARAGUA   AND   COSTA   RICA     25 


jank  of  the  San  Juan  River,  below  Castillo, 
follows  the  lowest  water  mark  of  a  navig- 
able stage  of  river.  And,  if  now  the  lake 
shore  were  itself  to  be  the  boundary  of 
Costa  Rica,  I  would  not  hesitate  to  declare 
that  the  semi-submerged  land  went  with 
the  permanent  land  and  carried  her  limits 
at  least  to  the  mean  low-water  line. 

"  But  this  case  is  not  one  of  a  water 
boundary ;  nor  is  it  at  all  similar,  or  '  on 
ill  fours  '  with  one,  for  none  of  the  equi- 
ties above  set  forth  have  any  application. 
It  is  a  case  of  rare  and  singular  occur- 
rence and  without  precedent,  within  my 
knowledge.  A  water  line  is  in  question, 
but  not  as  a  boundary.  It  is  only  to 
furnish  starting  points  whence  to  meas- 
ure off  a  certain  strip  of  territory.  Clear- 
ly the  case  stands  alone,  and  must  be  gov- 
erned strictly  by  the  instrument  under 
which  it  has  arisen.  That  is  the  treaty  of 
1858;  and  its  language  is  as  follows: 

'  Thence  the  line  shall  continue  tow- 
ards the  river  Sapoa,  which  discharges 
into  the  Lake  of  Nicaragua,  following  a 
course  which  is  distant  always  two  miles 
from  the  right  bank  of  the  river  San  Juan, 
with  its  sinuosities,  up  to  its  origin  at  the 
lake,  and  from  the  right  bank  of  the  lake 
itself,  up  to  the  said  river  Sapoa,  where 
this  line  parallel  to  the  said  banks  will 
terminate.' 

'  The  principles  upon  which  the  lan- 
guage and  intent  of  treaties  are  to  be  in- 
terpreted are  well  set  forth  in  the  Costa 
Rica  argument  joy  many  quotations  from 
eminent  authors.  All  concur  that  words 
are  to  be  taken  as  far  as  possible  in  their 
first  and  simplest  meanings — '  in  their 
natural  and  obvious  sense,  according  to 
the  general  use  of  the  same  words  ' — '  in 
the  natural  and  reasonable  sense  of  the 
terms ' — '  in  the  usual  sense,  and,  not  in 
any  extraordinary  or  unused  occupation.' 
"  We  must  suppose  that  the  language 
of  the  treaty  above  quoted  suggested  to 
its  framers  some  very  definite  picture  of 
the  lake  with  its  banks,  and  of  the  two- 
mile  strip  of  territory.  It,  evidently, 
seemed  to  them  all  so  simple  and  obvious 


that  no  further  words  were  necessary. 
Let  us  first  call  up  pictures  of  the  lake, 
at  different  levels,  and  see  which  seems 
the  most  natural,  obvious  and  reasonable. 
"  The  very  effort  to  call  up  a  picture  of 
the  lake,  at  either  extreme  high  water 
or  extreme  low  water,  seems  to  me  imme- 
diately to  rule  both  of  these  levels  out  of 


A.    P.  Davis,   Chief  Hydrographer, 
Isthmian   Canal  Commission. 

further  consideration.  Both  seem  un- 
natural conditions,  and  I  must  believe 
that,  had  either  been  intended,  additional 
details  would  have  been  given. 

"  Next ;  is  the  mean  low  water  mark 
the  first,  most  obvious  and  natural  picture 
called  up  by  the  expression,  '  the  bank  of 
the  lake  ?  '  It  seems  to  me  decidedly  not. 
During  about  eleven  months  of  the  year 
this  line  is  submerged,  invisible  and  in- 
accessible. It  seems  rather  a  technical 


26 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


line  than  a  natural  one.  The  idea  of  a 
bank  is  of  water  limited  by  dry  land  with 
some  elements  of  permanency  about  it. 
Even  during  the  brief  period  when  the 
line  is  uncovered,  the  idea  of  it  is  sugges- 
tive far  more  of  mud  and  aquatic  growths 
than  of  dry  land  and  forest  growths. 

"  To  my  mind,  the  natural,  simple  and 
obvious  idea  of  the  bank  of  a  lake,  in  this 
climate,  is  presented  only  by  the  line  of 
mean  high  water.  Here  we  would  first 
find  permanent  dry  ground  every  day  of 
an  average  year.  Here  an  observer,  dur- 
ing every  annual  round  of  ordinary  sea- 
sons, would  see  the  water  advance  to  his 
very  feet  and  then  recede,  as  if  some 
power  had  drawn  the  line  and  said  to  the 
waters,  '  hitherto  shalt  thou  come  but  no 
further.'  Here  the  struggle  between  for- 
est growths  and  aquatic  vegetation  be- 
gins to  change  the  landscape.  Here  lines 
of  drift,  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  the 
waves  naturally  suggest  the  limits  of  the 
'  bed  of  the  lake.' 

"  Without  doubt,  then,  I  conclude  that 
mean-high-water  mark  determines  the 
shore  of  the  lake ;  and  it  now  remains  to 
designate  that  level,  and  how  it  shall  be 
found. 

"  Several  surveys  of  the  proposed  Nica- 
raguan  Canal  route,  beside  that  of  Com- 
mander Lull  above  quoted,  have  been 
made  within  the  last  fifty  years.  Each 
found  a  certain  mean  high  level  of  the 
lake,  and  it  might  seem  a  simple  solution 
to  take  an  average  of  them  all.  But,  as 
each  adopted  its  own  bench-mark  on  the 
ocean,  and  ran  its  own  line  of  levels  to 
the  lake,  I  have  no  means  of  bringing  their 
figures  to  a  common  standard.  It  seems 
best,  therefore,  to  adopt  the  figures  of  that 
one  which  is  at  once  the  latest  and  most 
thorough,  which  has  enjoyed  the  benefit 
of  all  of  the  investigations  of  all  of  its 
predecessors,  and  whose  bench-marks  on 
the  lake  are  known  and  can  be  referred  to. 
That  is  the  survey,  still  in  progress,  under 
the  direction  of  the  United  States  Canal 
Commission.  Its  results  have  not  yet 
been  made  public,  but,  by  the  courtesy  of 


Rear-Admiral  J.  G.  Walker,  President  of 
the  Commission,  I  am  informed  of  them 
in  a  letter  dated  July  10,  1899,  from  which 
I  quote: 

"  '  In  reply  I  am  cabling  you  to-day,  as 
follows :  '  Alexander,  Greytown,  Six ; ' 
the  six  meaning,  as  per  your  letter,  106.0 
as  mean  high  level  of  lake.  This  eleva- 
tion of  106.0  is,  to  the  best  of  our  knowl- 
edge (Mr.  Davis,  our  hydrographer),  the 
mean  high  water  for  a  number  of 
years.  .  .  . 

"  '  The  highest  level  of  the  lake  in  1898 
was  106.7,  last  °f  November.  The  eleva- 
tion of  our  bench  mark  on  inshore  end  of 
boiler  at  San  Carlos  is  109.37.  .  .  .' 

"  '  A  complete  copy  of  this  letter  will  be 
handed  you,  and  also  blue-prints  of  the 
maps  made  by  the  Commission  of  the 
lower  end  of  the  lake,  which  may  facili- 
tate your  work.' 

"  As  this  Commission  is  the  highest  ex- 
isting authority,  I  adopt  its  finding,  and 
announce  my  award  as  follows : 

"  The  shore  line  of  Lake  Nicaragua, 
at  the  level  of  106.0  feet,  by  the  bench 
marks  of  the  United  States  Nicaragua 
Canal  Commission,  shall  be  taken  as  the 
bank  of  said  lake  referred  to  in  the  treaty 
of  1858." 

The  location  of  the  line  around  the 
southern  margin  of  the  lake  was  the  most 
difficult  part  of  the  whole  survey.  The 
country  here  is  a  vast  morass,  densely 
covered  with  tropical  vegetation,  even  the 
sluggish  streams  being  mostly  choked 
with  aquatic  plants.  The  high  water  line 
was  defined  as  106  feet,  while  the  level 
of  the  lake  at  the  time  of  the  survey  was 
about  1 02.  It  became  necessary,  there- 
fore, to  determine  an  elevation  four  feet 
higher,  which  was  usually  several  miles 
from  the  water's  edge. 

By  means  of  levelling,  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  the  swamps  had  a  mean  slope 
toward  the  lakes  of  about  one  foot  per 
mile,  and  this  was  made  the  basis  of  most 
of  the  agreements.  A  few  points  on 
streams  were  located,  the  area  of  Nica- 
ragua's two-mile  zone  was  calculated,  and 


BOUNDARY   BETWEEN    NICARAGUA   AND  COSTA   RICA    27 


the  boundary  was  defined  by  long  tan- 
gents, including  the  proper  area. 

On  reaching  the  Sapoa  River  a  monu- 
ment was  erected,  and  a  broken  line  to 
Salinas  Bay  was  run,  the  boundary  of  the 
bay  itself  was  surveyed,  and  the  island 
was  located. 

The  last  important  point  decided  by 
General  Alexander  was  perhaps  the  knot- 
tiest of  all.  It  was  the  definition  of  the 
centre  of  Salinas  Bay,  and  the  decision 
was  both  just  and  ingenious.  The  re- 
marks of  the  Arbiter  are  as  follows : 

"  The  Bay  of  Salinas  was  carefully  sur- 
veyed and  mapped  by  officers  of  the 
United  States  Navy  in  1885,  and  a  map 
of  the  same  is  published  in  the  United 
States  Naval  Hydrographic  office,  No. 
1025.  I  have  adopted  this  map,  with  the 
consent  of  both  commissions,  as  correctly 
representing  the  outline  of  the  Bay.  In 
shape  it  is  a  curved  pocket,  starting  east 
and  bending  southward,  about  five  miles 
long,  and  about  one-half  of  that  in  aver- 
age width.  Its  outline  a  little  resembles 
the  rounded  handle  or  butt  of  a  pistol, 
with  some  irregular  projections  and  in- 
dentations. 

"  It  is  desired  to  find  the  mathematical 
centre  of  this  figure,  closed  by  the  straight 
line  joining  the  headlands  of  the  Bay. 

;'  The  mathematical  centre  of  an  irregu- 
lar figure  is  the  mid-position  of  its  area. 
All  mechanical  centres,  such  as  the  centre 
of  gravity  or  of  equilibrium,  etc.,  in  which 
the  action  of  any  force  is  concerned,  must 
be  excluded  from  consideration. 

''  This  will  readily  appear  if  we  con- 
sider for  a  moment  the  case  of  a  bay  in 
the  shape  of  a  crescent.  The  centre  of 
gravity  of  its  figure  would  not  fall  upon 
the  water  of  the  bay  at  all,  but  upon  the 
promontory  of  land  embraced  by  the  wa- 
ter. This,  of  course,  could  not  be  con- 
sidered as  the  centre  of  the  bay. 

"  Neither  is  any  general  mathematical 
process  applicable,  such  as  that  of  the 
method  of  Least  Squares.  This  method 
will  find  the  centres  of  any  group  of  ran- 
dom spots,  but  were  they  disposed  in  cres- 


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28 


THE  NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


cent  form,  the  centre  would  be,  not  among 
them,  but  within  the  convex  space  which 
they  partially  surround. 

"  Other  methods  must  therefore  be  de- 
vised for  finding  the  mid-position  of  ir- 
regular and  restricted  areas,  and  many 
might  be  suggested,  more  or  less  appli- 
cable to  different  figures.  But  it  will  be 
sufficient  here  to  indicate  only  the  method 
which  I  have  adopted  as  best  suited  to  the 
figure  in  hand,  possessing,  as  this  does, 
something  of  a  curved  or  crescent  shape. 

"  I  have  supposed  a  vessel  to  enter  the 
Bay  from  the  ocean,  at  a  point  midway  be- 
tween its  headlands,  and  to  sail  a  course 
as  nearly  as  possible  equidistant  between 
the  opposite  shores,  on  the  right  and  left, 
until  it  has  penetrated  to  the  remotest 
point  of  the  Bay. 

"  This  course,  being  carefully  plotted 
upon  the  map,  although  curved,  may  be 
taken  as  the  long  axis  of  the  Bay. 

"  At  right  angles  to  it,  at  different 
points,  I  have  drawn  straight  lines  reach- 
ing across  the  Bay  from  shore  to  shore, 
and,  by  use  of  a  planimeter,  I  have  de- 
termined the  position  of  such  a  line  which 
will  exactly  divide  the  whole  area  of  the 
Bay  into  equal  parts.  This  line  may  be 
tmken  as  the  corresponding  short  axis  of 
the  Bay,  and  its  intersection  with  the  long 
axis  will  be  the  centre  of  the  Bay. 


"  When  at  that  point,  a  line  drawn 
across  the  bow  of  the  supposed  vessel, 
perpendicular  to  her  course,  would  have 
one-half  of  the  waters  of  the  Bay  in  front 
of  it  and  one-half  behind  it. 

"  Having  carefully  located  the  point  in 
this  manner,  I  have  determined  from  the 
scale  of  the  map,  its  distance  from  the 
summit  point  of  the  small  island  in  the 
Bay,  whose  latitude  and  longitude  are 
given  upon  the  map  as  follows : 

Latitude,      11°  03'    10" 
Longitude,  85°  43'  38" 

"  It  proves  to  be  37  seconds  to  the 
northward  and  14  seconds  to  the  east- 
ward of  this  point. 

"  I  therefore  fix  the  position  of  the  cen- 
tre of  Salinas  Bay  to  be : 

Latitude,      11°  03'  47"  North. 
Longitude,  85°  43'  24"  West. 

"  Toward  this  point  the  boundary  line 
must  run,  from  its  meeting  with  the  Sapoa 
River,  unless  the  two  Commissions  can 
agree  upon  a  line  with  natural  land- 
marks." 

All  the  Arbiter's  decisions  were  ami- 
cably received  by  both  Republics,  the 
questions  in  dispute  are  settled,  and  the 
boundary  marked  with  sufficient  accu- 
racy for  many  years  to  come. 


THE    NICARAGUA    CANAL 


THE  route  for  the  Nicaragua  Canal 
as  projected  by  the  present  Isth- 
mian Canal  Commission  is  shown 
on  the  accompanying  map.  It  gener- 
ally follows  the  course  of  the  San  Juan 
River  for  one  hundred  miles  from  the 
Caribbean  Sea  to  Lake  Nicaragua  about 
one  hundred  and  five  feet  above  it,  then 
it  traverses  the  lake  for  a  distance  of  sev- 
enty miles  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Las 
Lajas,  and  after  following  the  valley  of 
that  stream  for  a  short  distance,  crosses 


the  continental  divide,  forty-four  feet 
above  the  lake,  and  descends  the  valley  of 
the  Rio  Grande  to  Brito,  seventeen  miles 
from  Lake  Nicaragua. 

The  canal  as  proposed  will  have  a  mean 
depth  at  low  water  of  thirty-five  feet  and 
a  bottom  width  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet.  This  width  is  for  the  straight  sec- 
tions ;  on  curves  with  a  radius  of  less  than 
12,000  feet  the  width  is  increased  at  the 
rate  of  one  foot  for  each  two  hundred  feet ; 
thus  a  curve  with  a  radius  of  6,000  feet 


THE   NICARAGUA   CANAL 


29 


will  have  a  width  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet. 

Starting  from  the  Atlantic  terminus  the 
canal  may  be  described  as  consisting  of 
three  stages :  first,  a  period  of  ascent  for 
a  distance  of  fifty  miles  from  Greytown 
till  it  enters  the  San  Juan  at  a  point  about 
two  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  San 
Carlos  River.  This  stage  must  be  exca- 
vated. Second,  a  period  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  of  high  level,  the  level 


Second.  The  excavation  of  the  canal 
prism  in  the  swamp  sec?ions  between 
Greytown  and  the  Florida  Lagoon. 

Third.  The  heavy  cutting  near  Boca 
San  Carlos  and  at  Tamborcito. 

Fourth.  The  construction  of  the  large 
dam  at  or  near  Boca  San  Carlos  in  con- 
nection with  the  regulation  of  the  summit 
level. 

Fifth.     The  Locks. 

Some    fifty    years    ago    there    was    a 


Map  Showing   Route  of  Nicaragua  Canal  as   Proposed  by  Isthmian 

Canal  Commission. 


of  Lake  Nicaragua,  secured  by  means  of 
an  immense  masonry  dam  which  will  ex- 
tend the  level  of  the  lake  fifty  miles  down 
the  San  Juan.  This  stage  consists  of  im- 
proved river  and  lake  channels.  Third, 
a  period  of  descent  from  the  lake  level  to 
the  Pacific  through  the  continental  divide. 
This  stage,  seventeen  miles,  must  also  be 
excavated. 

The  salient  engineering  problems  con- 
nected with  the  Nicaragua  Canal  project 
as  outlined  by  the  Commission  are  as  fol- 
lows: 

First.  The  construction  of  harbors  at 
the  termini  of  the  canal. 


good  harbor  at  Greytown,  the  east- 
ern terminus  of  the  canal,  with  thirty 
feet  of  water  at  the  anchorage  and 
about  the  same  depth  in  the  entrance. 
The  entrance  to  this  harbor  where  it  then 
existed,  has  been  obliterated  and  the  har- 
bor itself  is  now  a  lagoon  almost  entirely 
enclosed,  of  restricted  area,  with  only 
about  half  the  depth  of  water  in  it  that 
formerly  existed.  Vessels  for  Greytown 
are  now  compelled  to  anchor  in  the  offing 
and  discharge  their  cargoes  on  lighters 
which  are  taken  into  the  lagoon  across  a 
bar  having  a  depth  of  less  than  six  feet  of 
water.  As  the  prevailing  trade  winds  are 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGA/ 


Travelling  in  Nicaragua. 


strong  and  blow  almost  directly  on  this' 
part  of  the  canal,  the  construction  of  a 
harbor  at  this  terminus  becomes  necessary 
in  the  early  stages  of  the  work  as  well  as 
for  use  after  the  canal  is  completed. 

It  is  proposed  to  construct,  by  excava- 
tion, a  harbor  of  sufficient  area  to  accom- 
modate vessels  using  the  canal.  The  en- 
trance would  have  a  minimum  depth  of 
thirty-five  feet  and  a  bottom  width  of 
five  hundred  feet,  guarded  by  two  jetties 
springing  from  the  shore  line  near  Har- 
bour Head.  These  jetties  are  to  be  built 
of  loose  stone  to  a  height  of  six  feet  above 
mean  high  tide,  the  hearting  to  be  com- 
posed of  small  and  the  outer  portion  of 
large  stone,  not  easily  moved  by  the 
waves.  It  is  not  expected,  however,  that 
the  construction  of  the  jetties  will  alone 
form  the  entrance.  Dredging  will  also 
be  necessary  and  its  maintenance  may  re- 
quire an  extension  of  the  jetties  or  dredg- 
ing or  both. 

The  western  terminus  of  the  canal  will 
be  near  Brito.  Here,  as  at  Greytown, 
there  is  no  harbor,  and  an  artificial  one 
must  be  constructed.  The  same  general 
engineering  principles  will  guide  in  its 
construction.  The  width  and  depth  of  the 


entrance  will  be  the  same.  The  sand 
movement  on  the  western  coast,  however, 
is  slight  as  compared  with  that  in  the 
vicinity  of  Greytown.  The  prevailing 
winds  on  this  side  are  off-shore,  and  de- 
structive storms  seldom  visit  this  part  of 
the  coast.  The  cost  of  maintenance  of  the 
harbor  on  the  west  side  will  therefore  be 
less  than  that  of  the  one  on  the  east  side 
at  Greytown. 

For  a  part  of  the  distance  between 
Greytown  and  the  Florida  Lagoon  the 
canal  line  passes  over  swampy  sections, 
where  the  material  is  too  soft  to  support 
the  embankments  necessary  to  keep  out 
the  floods  of  the  San  Juan,  and  to  main- 
tain the  canal  level  itself.  Protecting  em- 
bankments are  therefore  to  be  constructed 
over  these  sections.  These  embankments 
are  to  be  located  as  far  as  practicable  on 
the  firm  land  composing  the  neighboring 
hills.  In  places,  however,  they  cross 
ground  which  is  soft  to  a  considerable 
depth.  Waterways  are  provided  on  the 
embankment  lines  to  dispose  of  flood 
water  in  the  protected  areas. 

At  two  places  near  the  Boca  San  Carlos 
dam  site  heavy  cutting  is  encountered,  the 
maximum  depth  for  short  distances  being 


THE   NICARAGUA   CANAL 


two  hundred  and  eighteen  and  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  feet  respectively;  but 
the  deepest  cut  of  all  is  at  Tamborcito, 
about  twenty-six  miles  from  Greytown. 
Here  the  high  ground  north  of  the  canal 
approaches  so  close  to  the  river  that  a 
cut  through  it  becomes  imperative.  The 
ridge  is  narrow,  however,  the  width  at  the 
top  being  only  a  few  feet  and  at  the  level 
of  the  water  in  the  canal  less  than  three 
thousand  feet,  but  the  extreme  depth  of 
the  cut  is  two  hundred  and  nineteen  feet. 
The  borings  show  that  it  is  nearly  all  hard 
rock.  The  less  heavy  cuts  will  also  be  in 
firm  ground,  but  the  exact  character  of  the 
material  cannot  be  stated  until  the  borings 
now  in  progress  have  been  completed. 

The  most  difficult  engineering  work  in 
connection  with  the  Nicaragua  Canal 
project  is  the  construction  of  a  dam  across 
the  San  Juan  River  to  hold  back  the 
waters  of  the  lake  and  enable  its  level  to 
be  regulated.  It  is  of  great  importance 


that  this  dam  should  be  located  above  the 
mouth  of  the  San  Carlos  River,  as  the 
latter  discharges  at  times  as  much  as  100,- 
ooo  cubic  feet  of  water  per  second,  carry- 
ing with  it  great  quantities  of  sand. 

Lake  Nicaragua,  which  forms  a  part  of 
the  summit  level,  is  about  one  hundred 
miles  long  and  forty-five  miles  wide,  and 
is  distant  only  about  twelve  to  thirty  miles 
from  the  Pacific.  Originally  it  was  an 
arm  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  but  the  shifting 
of  the  continental  divide  cut  it  off  from 
the  sea.  The  lake  discharges  through  the 
San  Juan  River  into  the  Caribbean  Sea 
near  Greytown.  For  the  upper  half  of 
its  course  the  San  Juan  winds  through 
hilly  country.  Neither  it  nor  any  of  its 
tributaries  in  this  section  carries  much 
sediment,  and  a  slack  water  navigation  by 
means  of  locks  and  dams  is  practicable. 
But  half  way  down  its  course  the  San 
Juan  River  receives  the  waters  of  the  San 
Carlos  which  carry  great  quantities  of 


Natives  of  Nicaragua. 


THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


sand  and  thus  render  the  San  Juan  use- 
less for  the  purposes  of  a  canal  beyond 
their  junction.  The  canal  route,  there- 
fore, is  compelled  here  to  leave  the  San 
Juan,  which  can  no  longer  be  of  service, 
and  find  to  the  sea  an  independent  way. 

Lake  Nicaragua  can  furnish  an  unlim- 
ited supply  of  water  to  the  canal.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  it  varies  in  its  level  as  much 
as  thirteen  feet.  Such  an  extreme  fluc- 
tuation occurs,  however,  only  at  relatively 
remote  intervals.  This  fluctuation  will  be 
reduced  by  the  construction  of  the  dam  in 
the  San  Juan  River  just  above  the  San 
Carlos,  whose  waters  cannot  be  used  be- 
cause of  the  load  of  sediment  they  carry. 

To  reach  the  summit  level  from  the  At- 
lantic side  five  locks  will  be  constructed, 
the  first  having  a  lift  of  thirty-six  and  one- 
half  feet  and  the  other  four  a  uniform  lift 
of  eighteen  and  one-half  feet,  except  the 
lock  at  the  summit,  the  lift  of  which  will 
vary  with  the  level  of  the  lake.  The  locks 
will  be  seven  hundred  and  forty  feet  long 
by  eighty  feet  wide  in  the  clear,  with  a 
depth  of  thirty-five  feet  over  the  miter-sill. 


From  the  Pacific  side  the  summit  will  be 
reached  by  four  locks  of  uniform  lift  of 
twenty-eight  and  one-half  feet.  It  is  as- 
sumed that  the  mean  level  of  the  two 
oceans  is  about  the  same.  The  mean 
range  of  tides  on  the  east  is  about  one  foot 
and  that  on  the  west  side  about  eight  feet. 
The  following  table  gives  the  distances 
on  the  Nicaragua  route: 

Number  of  miles  of  canal  proper 67.33 

Number  of  miles  of  river  improved...     27.96 
Number   of    miles   not    requiring    im- 
provement       17.26 

Number  of  miles  of  lake  channel  300 

feet  wide 22. 19 

Number  of  miles  of  lake  not  requiring 

improvement   48-74 

Number  of  miles  of  harbors  and  en- 
trances to  same  3 .05 

Total  number  of  miles  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  measured  from  the  6-fathom 
curves  186.53 

Time  necessary  to  pass  through  the 
canal,  33  hours. 

The  Isthmian  Commission  believe  that 
it  would  take  ten  years  to  construct  the 
canal,  and  that  the  cost  would  be  at  least 
$200,000,000. 


THE   TSANGPO 


By  JAMES  MASCARENE   HUBBARD 


THE  Tsangpo  is  in  several  re- 
spects the  most  remarkable  river 
in  the  world.  It  is  the  highest 
of  all  navigable  streams,  flowing  for 
nearly  a  thousand  miles  at  an  elevation 
of  from  11,000  feet  to  14,000  feet.  Dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  its  course  its 
current  is  sluggish,  but  for  a  hundred 
miles  or  more  the  mighty  river,  in  its 
descent  to  the  coast  plain,  runs  with  the 
speed  of  a  mountain-torrent.  Though 
one  of  the  largest  of  Central  Asian 
streams,  it  has  never  been  followed  from 
its  source  to  its  mouth,  and  until  recent- 
ly it  was  doubtful  of  which  of  two  well- 
known  rivers  it  was  the  head-waters. 


The  attempts  to  solve  its  mysteries  have 
been  attended  with  an  almost  unparal- 
leled heroism,  endurance,  steadfastness, 
and  self-sacrifice.  For  the  principal  ex- 
plorers of  the  Tsangpo  have  been  ani- 
mated, not  as  those  who  sought  the 
fountain-springs  of  the  Nile,  by  the  hope 
of  the  world's  applause  at  their  success 
— that  was  denied  them — but  for  a  sim- 
ple daily  wage  and  the  consciousness  of 
loyalty  to  duty. 

The  physical  history  of  the  Tsangpo 
is  briefly  this:  It  rises  in  the  extreme 
southwestern  corner  of  Tibet,  close  to 
the  sources  of  the  Ganges,  the  Indus, 
and  its  great  affluent,  the  Sutlej,  at  a 


THE  TSANGPO 


33 


height  of  nearly  15,0x30  feet.  Receiving 
the  drainage  of  the  slopes  of  the  Hima- 
layas and  of  a  little-known  Tibetan 
range  running  parallel  with  these  moun- 
tains, it  soon  becomes  a  stream  wide 
and  deep  enough  to  be  navigable. 
There  is  a  considerable  boat  traffic  upon 
it,  at  an  elevation  but  little  below  the 
summit  of  Mt.  Blanc.  It  flows  due  east 
for  some  eight  hundred  miles,  receiving 
numerous  large  tributaries  from  both 
south  and  north,  and  when  near  Lhasa 
it  is,  at  low  water,  nearly  a  third  of  a 
mile  wide  and  twenty  feet  deep ;  in  flood, 
two  miles  wide  and  of  unknown  depth. 
In  longitude  94°  E.  it  makes  a  sharp 
bend  to  the  south,  and  passes  through 
the  Himalayas  in  a  course  known  only 
to  the  savages  who  dwell  upon  its  pre- 
cipitous banks. 

When  last  seen  by  an  explorer  it  is 
at  a  height  of  from  eight  to  eleven  thou- 
sand feet,  but  when  it  emerges  in  Assam 
it  is  only  four  hundred  feet  above  sea- 
level.  From  this  point  it  pursues  its 
sluggish  way  for  another  eight  hundred 
miles  as  the  Brahmaputra  to  the  Ganges 
and  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  There  has  been 
a  long  controversy,  into  the  details  of 
which  it  is  not  necessary  to  enter,  as  to 
•  whether  the  Irawadi  or  the  Brahma- 
putra is  the  continuation  of  the  Tsangpo. 
Though  there  has  been  as  yet  no  direct 
evidence — the  last  expedient  of  throw- 
ing in  marked  logs  in  Tibet  having 
failed — the  general  consensus  of  scien- 
tific opinion  is  in  favor  of  the  Brahma- 
putra, and  the  latest  English  gazetteer 
describes  it  under  this  name. 

It  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  pure 
science  will  be  much  benefited  by  the 
lifting  of  the  veil  which  hangs  over  this 
part  of  the  river's  course.  But  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  it  hides  scenes 
of  magnificent  beauty  and  grandeur 
which  will  thrill  the  expectant  world, 
and  give  it  new  and  nobler  conceptions 
of  the  sublimity  of  nature. 

The  imagination  fails  to  grasp  the 
reality,  as  there  is  no  other  instance  on 
earth  of  a  large  river  dropping  eight 


thousand  feet  in  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  plunging  with  the  mad  rush  of  a 
mountain-brook  hemmed  in  by  ranges 
whose  peaks  are  from  thirteen  to  twenty- 
two  thousand  feet  in  height.  The  native 
testimony  is  conclusive  as  to  the  exist- 
ence of  at  least  one  awe-inspiring  fall 
before  Tibetan  territory  is  left.  A  sci- 
entific journal*  published,  a  few  years 
ago,  a  copy  of  a  picture  of  them  by 
a  native  Tibetan  artist  who  lived  in 
their  vicinity.  It  shows  them  enveloped 
in  clouds  of  mist  and  spray,  and  the 
cliffs  are  covered  by  sub-tropical  vegeta- 
tion. The  local  lamas  relate  to  the  awe- 
struck pilgrim  that  amid  the  thundering 
water  stands  a  king-devil,  placed  there 
under  a  spell  by  the  lamas,  and,  when  the 
river  is  low,  the  faithful  can  see  his 
figure  looming  dimly  through  the  fall- 
ing waters. 

It  has  not  been  from  the  lack  of  the 
spirit  of  adventure,  or  because  of  the 
natural  difficulties  presented  by  the 
region — great  though  they  doubtless  are 
— that  no  white  man  has  solved  the 
mystery  of  this  part  of  the  river's  course. 
Its  attempted  ascent  from  the  plains  of 
Assam  has  been  absolutely  prohibited 
hitherto  by  the  Indian  Government  on 
the  entirely  reasonable  ground  that 
there  is  almost  a  certainty  that  the  ex- 
plorer would  be  killed  by  the  savage 
Mishmis,  who  are  intolerably  jealous  of 
the  presence  of  a, stranger  in  their  coun- 
try. This  would  necessitate  a  punitive 
expedition  costly  in  treasure  and  in  life 
— an  evil  by  no  means  commensurate 
with  the  gain  of  having  satisfied  what  is, 
after  all,  pure  curiosity.  The  Tibetan 
officials  also,  while  preventing  so  far  as 
they  are  able  any  white  men  from  enter- 
ing Tibet,  for  some  unknown  reason 
forbid  Tibetans  even  to  attempt  to  de- 
scend the  river  beyond  their  own 
frontier. 

The  Tsangpo  has  been  explored,  how- 
ever, with  the  exception  of  this  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  notwithstand- 

*  Geographical  Journal,  vol.  5,  p.  258. 


34- 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


ing  the  opposition  of  the  Tibetans  and 
the  difficulties  presented  by  the  highest 
mountain  region  in  the  world,  though 
not  by  white  men.  At  any  time  within 
the  last  thirty-five  years  the  trans-Hima- 
layan traveller  might  have  met  a  cara- 
van of  Tibetan  and  Indian  traders  with 
their  pack-laden  sheep  climbing  or  de- 
scending some  steep  mountain-pass,  or 
crossing  the  Tsangpo  on  rafts.  Walk- 
ing humbly  with  the  servants  and  slaves, 
for  to  walk  is  a  mark  of  servitude  with 
those  people,  there  would  be  an  Indian 
with  tea-bowl  and  prayer-barrel  sus- 
pended at  his  girdle,  counting  his  rosary 
as  he  walked,  differing  in  nothing  ap- 
parently from  his  companions  except  in 
his  more  intelligent  face  and  the  greater 
interest  with  which  he  noted  everything 
about  him.  But  open  his  prayer-barrel, 
which  he  piously  twirls  when  he  comes 
to  some  particularly  dangerous  spot, 
and  there  will  be  found  in  it,  instead  of 
the  scroll  with  the  Buddhist  prayer, 
"  Om  mani  padmi  horn,"  notes  of  the 
journey  after  the  boundary  was  crossed, 
observations  with  sextant  and  compass, 
and  a  simple  route-survey  showing  the 
length  of  each  day's  march,  the  relative 
position  of  the  prominent  peaks,  the 
course  of  the  streams,  and  their  approxi- 
mate breadth  and  depth.  Examine 
closely  his  rosary,  and  one  would  dis- 
cover to  his  surprise  that,  instead  of  the 
orthodox  one  hundred  and  eight  beads, 
there  were  only  a  hundred,  and  that  he 
dropped  one  at  every  hundred  steps, 
which  were  uniformly  two  and  a  half  feet 
long.  If  he  were  watched  carefully  he 
would  be  seen  to  steal  from  camp  at 
night,  when  all  else  were  sleeping,  if  bit- 
ing wind,  freezing  cold,  and  driving 
snow  permit,  with  his  box  and  tea-bowl. 
Taking  from  beneath  the  false  bottom  of 
his  box  a  few  instruments,  and  pouring 
some  quicksilver  into  his  tea-bowl  for  an 
artificial  horizon,  he  makes  an  observa- 
tion of  some  star,  notes  the  condition  of 
barometer  and  thermometer,  compares 
his  chronometer  with  his  watch,  and 
then  goes  back  to  camp  to  write  up  his 


journal,  and  at  length  to  sleep.  Years 
after,  the  traveller  might  see  this  same 
man  at  the  Great  Trigonometrical  Sur- 
vey in  Calcutta  reading  to  an  English 
officer  his  journal,  explaining  his  obser- 
vations and  route-survey,  and  narrating 
his  adventures — in  one  instance  these  in- 
cluded a  seven  years'  slavery  in  Tibet. 
fie  asks  who  he  is,  and  is  amazed  to 
learn  that  he  is  only  a  school-master  in 
a  little  Himalayan  village  in  the  district 
of  Kumaon. 

What  is  his  reward  for  these  year-long 
toils,  sufferings,  and  dangers,  this  daily 
risking  his  life  in  an  attempt  to  add  to 
the  world's  knowledge  ?  A  little  piece  of 
land,  possibly  a  small  pension,  and,  while 
he  is  able  to  serve — oblivion.  But  soon 
the  scientific  journals  will  be  full  of  ac- 
counts of  the  wonderful  journey  of  the 
native  Indian  explorer,  the  great  extent 
and  marvellous  accuracy  of  his  survey, 
his  pluck  and  endurance,  his  fertility  of 
resource,  -and,  above  all,  his  single- 
hearted  devotion  to  the  cause  of  science. 
If  his  services  are  publicly  recognized  by 
some  great  Society,  with  the  names  of 
world-renowned  explorers,  we  read 
merely,  "  The  Pundit  employed  by  Cap- 
tain T.  G.  Montgomerie — a  gold  watch — 
for  his  route-survey  in  Great  Tibet."  * 

It  was  in  1861  that  the  successful  op- 
position of  the  Tibetans  to  the  explora- 
tion of  the  trans-Himalayan  region,  by 
Europeans,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  Indian 
traders  were  permitted  to  travel  freely 
throughout  Tibet,  suggested  to  an  officer 
connected  with  the  Great  Trigonometrical 
Survey  of  India  the  expedient  of  employ- 
ing native  surveyors. 

The  village  school-master,  Nain  Singh, 
who  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  broth- 
ers Schlagintweit  during  their  explora- 
tions in  Kashmir,  was  the  first  man  to  re- 

*  Royal  Geographical  Society  Year-Book, 
1899,  p.  208.  It  should  be  said,  however,  that 
in  1877  the  patron's  medal  was  bestowed  on 
the  Pundit  Nain  Singh — then  incapacitated  for 
further  service.  Two  others  are  also  men- 
tioned by  name  in  the  list  of  recipients  of 
awards. 


EXPLORATIONS   IN   CENTRAL   EAST  AFRICA 


43 


the  mammalia  were  the  same  as  had  been 
found  in  the  eastern  section  of  the  jour- 
ney. On  January  3d  the  Omo  River  was 
left  behind.  It  was  now  found  that  as 
the  expedition  approached,  the  natives 
fled  to  the  hills  and  seemed  inclined  to 
fight.  They  appeared  to  be  a  branch  of 
the  Turkana.  One  day  a  number  of 
them  attacked  two  of  Dr.  Smith's  camel- 
men,  and  were  only  driven  off  by  firing ; 
but  this  was  the  only  case  of  attempted 
hostilities  on  the  whole  journey. 

After  leaving  the  highlands  and  cross- 
ing at  right  angles  the  line  of  march  of 
the  late  Captain  Wellby,  the  Magois  were 
encountered.  They  have  the  heavy  build 
and  large  features,  with  high  cheek- 
bones, of  the  Soudanese,  and,  above  all, 
the  lines  of  raised  tattooing  on  their 
cheeks  that  is  so  typical  of  the  people 
about  the  Nile.  Dr.  Smith  thinks  it  not 
unlikely  that  they  are  a  branch  of  the 
Dinkas,  who,  perhaps  being  driven  from 
the  Sobat  by  the  Neurs,  put  the  desert 
between  themselves  and  their  persecu- 
tors. They  seem  to  care  principally  for 
small  red  beads,  and  work  them  in  gor- 
geous patterns  on  leather  plaques,  with 
which  the  warriors  adorn  their  massive 
dead-dresses. 

The  most  outre  of  our  fashionable 
young  men  can  never  aspire  to  the  height 
of  collar  worn  by  some  of  the  Magois. 
Their  collar  of  beads  throws  the  chin 
high  up  in  the  air,  and  their  locks  are 
done  up  in  a  great  chiffon,  composed 
principally  of  clay  covered  with  ostrich 
feathers.  Parallel  lines  of  raised  tattoo- 
ing on  the  chest  and  abdomen,  leopards' 
skins  hung  over  the  back,  and  a  bell  hung 
on  a  slender  cord  around  the  waist  help  to 
enrich  the  men's  apparel.  They  are  the 
only  people  Dr.  Smith  has  ever  seen 
wearing  a  zebra's  tail  suspended  from 
the  elbows.  Many  of  the  younger  girls 
have  rather  attractive  features  and  pretty 
figures.  The  worst  burden  they  have  to 
carry  in  life  seems  to  be  the  countless 
necklaces  of  beads  which  spread  over 


their  bosoms  to  the  waist,  and  the  large 
bracelets  and  anklets  of  ivory,  brass,  and 
iron.  Their  hair  is  shaved  above  the 
ears  and  cut  fairly  close  on  the  top  of 
the  head. 

Contrary  to  the  advice  of  these  natives 
the  expedition  set  out  into  the  plain  west- 
ward, and  here  they  suffered  much  from 
the  difficult  ground  and  the  scarcity  of 
water,  and  many  transport  animals  and 
much  valuable  baggage  were  lost.  After 
searching  for  a  better  route  for  many 
days,  a  branch  of  the  Magois  calling 
themselves  Katua  were  encountered,  and 
Dr.  Smith  was  surprised  to  find  them 
cow-worshippers,  indulging  in  certain 
rites  supposed  to  be  peculiar  to  the 
Hindu  religion.  On  reaching  the  most 
northern  extension  of  the  Uganda  high- 
lands on  February  I5th,  the  Akara  were 
met  with.  Many  of  these  natives  were 
agriculturists  as  well  as  stock  -  raisers, 
and  had  substantial  wooden  dwellings. 
Villages  were  passed  which  might  easily 
have  contained  1,500  inhabitants.  Dr. 
Smith  secured  at  this  stage  of  the  jour- 
ney the  only  specimens  ever  obtained  of 
the  spotted  bushbuck.  On  March  2d 
Lockall  was  reached,  and  there  Dr.  Smith 
received  a  visit  in  state  from  King. 
Amara,  who  commanded  perhaps  25,000 
warriors.  Fort  Berkeley  was  reached  on 
March  I4th  last.  As  no  steamers  had 
come  up,  however,  the  followers  of  the 
expedition  had  to  be  sent  down  to  Mom- 
basa after  waiting  a  month.  But  on 
May  5th  a  gunboat  arrived  and  Dr. 
Smith  and  his  collections  were  carried 
down  to  Cairo.  That  site  was  reached 
just  ten  months  after  the  departure  of 
the  expedition  from  the  Somali  coast. 

Dr.  Donaldson  Smith  has  not  only 
thoroughly  explored  a  large  tract  of 
Africa,  but  he  has  made  a  most  valuable 
series  of  surveys  and  some  very  inter- 
esting collections.  Dr.  Smith  has  earned 
a  very  high  position  as  an  explorer  of 
unknown  countries,  and  deserves  the 
warmest  praise  of  geographers. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES. 


THE    DUKE    OF    ABRUZZI. 

THE   Duke   of   the   Abruzzi    will 
despatch  from  Christiania  in  the 
spring  a  relief  party  to  search  for 
the  three  members  of  his  North  Polar  ex- 
pedition who  were  lost  in  March,  1900. 
These  were  Lieutenant  Querini,  a  Nor- 


Lieut.  Franco   Querini. 

wegian  engineer,  and  an  Italian  machinist. 
Captain  Cagnrs  party  set  out  from  Tep- 
litz  Bay,  82°  4',  where  the  Stella  Polare 
was  blocked,  March  nth,  and  during  the 
first  nine  days  advanced  43.5  miles.  As 
the  party  was  too  numerous  for  rapid  ad- 
vance, he  determined  at  this  point  to  send 
back  the  three  men  whom  he  judged  were 
least  able  to  stand  the  strain  of  march- 


ing. It  had  been  agreed  when  Cagni  and 
the  Duke  separated  that  only  those  most 
enduring  and  competent  should  con- 
tinue with  Cagni  on  the  march.  The 
three  were  started  back  in  good  spirits, 
good  health,  and  abundantly  provided 
with  provisions,  but  they  were  never 
heard  from  again.  Captain  Cagni  be- 
lieves that  they  must  have  fallen  into  a 
chasm  and  perished.  Letters  were  left 
at  Teplitz  Bay  with  instructions  for  the 
men  to  proceed  to  Cape  Flora.  Provi- 
sions sufficient  for  twenty  men  for  three 
years  were  also  left  with  the  letters  and 
enough  more  for  three  men  for  four  years 
at  Cape  Flora. 

The  preliminary  report  of  the  expedi- 
tion recently  published  by  the  Duke  of 
Abruzzi  in  the  Italian  Militare  e  Ma- 
rina has  added  but  little  to  the  account 
already  given  in  the  NATIONAL  GEO- 
GRAPHIC MAGAZINE  (vol.  xi.,  pp. 
411-413).  The  advance  of  Cagni  is  espe- 
cially remarkable  for  the  speed  which  his 
party  was  able  to  maintain.  For  days  they 
averaged  9.5  miles  in  twenty-four  hours, 
a  phenomenal  rate  of  advance  over  polar 
ice  and  snow.  Latitude  86°  33'  was 
reached  April  26th.  No  land  was  here  in 
sight,  nothing  but  ice  in  a  state  of  thaw. 
Petermann's  Land,  which  Payer  believed 
he  saw,  did  not  exist  where  he  stated  or 
Cagni  would  surely  have  seen  it  early  in 
his  journey.  The  same  must  be  true  of 
King  Oscar  Land. 


TRANS-SIBERIAN    RAIL- 
WAY. 

WORK  will  be  resumed  on  the 
branch   of  the   Trans-Siberian 
railway     from      Stretensk     to 
Khabarovsk.    This  route  was  abandoned 
for   a   more   direct   line   to   the    Pacific 
through  Manchuria  when  Russia  acquired 


GEOGRAPHIC  NOTES 


practical  control  over  Manchuria  after 
the  Chino-Japan  war.  The  disturbances 
in  this  province  during  the  past  summer 
have  shown  the  Russian  Government  that 
for  a  number  of  years  the  route  through 
Manchuria  is  liable  to  be  cut  by  bands  of 
Chinese  at  any  moment.  Hence  if  there 
is  to  be  regular  railway  service  from  St. 
Petersburg  to  the  Pacific  a  safer  route 
must  be  maintained.  The  northern  route, 
which  is  a  part  of  the  original  plan,  fol- 
lows the  left  bank  of  the  Shilka  and  Amur 
Rivers  and  thus  keeps  entirely  in  Russian 
territory.  It  protects  and  is  in  turn  pro- 
tected by  the  line  of  Russian  steamers 
and  barges  which  regularly  ply  up  and 
down  the  Shilka  and  Amur  between 
Stretensk  and  Khabarovsk. 


NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC 
SOCIETY  LECTURES. 

THE  National  Geographic  Society 
announces  the  following  lectures: 
"The  Explorations  and  Missions 
of  the  Franciscan  Fathers  in  Mexico,"  by 
J.  Stanley-Brown,  Friday,  January  4th; 
"  The  Routes  for  an  Isthmian  Canal,"  by 
Arthur  P.  Davis,  Friday,  January  i8th ; 
'  The  Characteristics,  Recent  Progress, 
and  Present  Condition  of  Mexico,"  by 
Sefior  Dr.  Don  Juan  N.  Navarro,  Mexi- 
can Consul-General  at  New  York,  Fri- 
day, February  ist.  These  lectures  are 
held  in  the  Congregational  Church,  at 
eight  P.M.  Technical  meetings  for  the 
reading  of  papers  and  general  discussion 
will  also  be  held  on  the  evenings  of  Jan- 
uary nth  and  25th.  The  place  of  meet- 
ing and  subjects  will  be  announced  later. 

SVEN    HEDIN. 

IT  was  feared  that  Sven  Hedin  had 
lost  his  life  in  the  chaos  throughout 
the  Chinese  Empire  during  the  past 
summer.     But  he  has  reached  his  head- 
quarters, Yangi-Koll,  Central  Asia,  safe 


and  sound,  and  is  as  enthusiastic  and  vivid 
in  his  descriptions  as  ever.  He  reports 
that  he  has  passed  the  summer,  unmo- 
lested, in  the  vast  Desert  of  Gobi. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Sven  Hedin 
went  to  Central  Asia  in  August,  1899, 
purposing  to  stay  three  years  there  verify- 
ing and  continuing  the  explorations  he 
made  in  that  region  during  1893-1895. 
His  narrative  of  those  years,  Through 
Asia,  has  been  published  in  half  a  dozen 
languages,  and  has  made  him  world- 
famous  as  one  of  the  great  explorers  of 
history,  comparable  to  Marco  Polo,  von 
Richtofen,  and  Livingston. 

Dr.  Hedin  writes  that  he  has  definitely 
located  the  original  bed  of  the  mysterious 
and  shifting  Lake  Lobnor,  about  the  loca- 
tion of  which  geographers  have  so  long 
wrangled.  Along  the  south  end  of  the 
lake  once  ran  the  ancient  caravan  route 
from  Central  China  westward,  formerly 
thronged  with  camels  carrying  silk  to  the 
markets  of  the  west.  On  the  banks  of 
Lake  Lobnor  were  found  the  ruins  of 
houses,  temples,  and  watch-towers,  evi- 
dently the  remains  of  a  city  rich  and  pros- 
perous 2,000  years  ago.  The  rivers  in 
that  region  are  very  perceptibly  drying 
up  at  their  southern  ends,  Dr.  Hedin 
states,  and  growing  bigger  and  bigger  at 
the  north.  He  concludes  that  the  hydro- 
graphical  system  is  moving  toward  the 
northeast. 


THE    COAST    OF    PORTO 
RICO. 

THERE  was  no  relaxation  in  the 
activity  displayed  by  the  United 
States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey 
in  its  surveying  operations  in  Porto  Rico 
during  the  summer  of  1900.  During  the 
season  thirty-six  triangulation  stations 
were  occupied  and  one  hundred  and 
one  geographical  positions  located.  A 
base  line  was  measured  and  an  azimuth 
determined.  Large  scale  surveys  were 
made  of  the  approaches  and  surroundings 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


of  Guanica  Bay  and  Mayaguez,  and  a 
small  scale  survey  of  that  portion  of  the 
main  mountain  range  visible  from  the 
south  coast.  The  difficulties  of  the  work 
may  be  imagined  when  it  is  stated  that  for 
several  hours  each  day,  for  nearly  three 
months  and  a  half,  it  was  necessary  for 
the  topographer  and  his  aids  to  work  in 
water  almost  waist  deep. 


THE    CENSUS    OF    INDIA. 

THE  third  general  census  of  India 
will  be  taken  on  the  night  of  March 
ist.  Ten  years  ago  the  population 
of  India  was  about  287,000,000,  but  this 
census  will  probably  show  not  more  than 
300,000,000,  as  the  ravages  of  famine  and 
cholera  during  the  past  decade  have  been 
great.  In  other  words,  the  increase  of 
population  in  India  during  1891-1901  is 
estimated  at  about  the  same  as  the  increase 
in  the  United  States  during  the  same 
period,  though  the  latter  had  less  than 
one-fourth  as  large  a  population  as  the 
former.  The  immensity  of  the  task  in- 
volved in  counting  the  people  of  India, 
one-fifth  the  population  of  the  world,  may 
be  grasped  by  comparison  with  the  im- 
mense work  of  taking  a  census  of  the 
United  States.  Nearly  a  million  men  and 
boys  will  be  employed  as  enumerators, 
clerks,  etc.  The  well-known  suspicion 
and  reluctance  of  the  Indian  people  to 
answer  the  questions  of  the  census  taker 
are  gradually  wearing  away,  and  the 
Indian  Government  confidently  hopes  for 
good  results  from  the  census  of  1901. 

LAKE   TANGANYIKA. 

CONVINCING    evidence    of    the 
shrinking  up  of  Lake  Tanganyika 
was  presented  in  a  paper  recently 
read  in  Brussels  by  Captain  Hecq.     The 
post  of  Karema  was  built  twenty  years 
ago  on  the  shores  of  the  lake,  but  when 
Captain  Hecq  last  visited  the  place,  a  few 


months  ago,  the  waters  had  so  receded 
that  the  post  was  fourteen  miles  distant 
from  the  lake.  The  slave-trade  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lake  Kivu  is  dead.  Domestic 
slavery,  however,  Captain  Hecq  states, 
still  continues,  but  will  soon  disappear. 

A    REPUBLIC    IN    MAN- 
CHURIA. 

A  FLOURISHING  little  republic 
in  Manchuria,  it  is  asserted,  has 
been  discovered  by  the  Russians. 
It  lies  along  the  upper  reaches  of  the 
Sungari  River,  below  Kirin,  which  is  on 
the  line  of  railway  from  Onon  to  Port 
Arthur.  The  Government,  according  to 
report,  is  properly  organized  with  a  Presi- 
dent, Courts  of  Justice,  Trade  Guilds,  tax 
collectors,  and  other  officers  of  a  State.  It 
supports  a  small  army,  which  last  summer 
joined  the  Chinese  forces  to  oppose  the 
Russian  advance,  and  fought  with  much 
valor.  Probably  the  Republic  was  found- 
ed seventy  years  ago.  It  now  numbers 
about  100,000  and,  oddly  enough,  has  al- 
ways been  favored  by  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment. 

ORGANIZATION     OF 
FRENCH    CONGO. 

BY  a  recent  decree  of  the  French 
Government  a  new  administra- 
tive province  has  been  formed  in 
North  Central  Africa,  entitled  "  Territoire 
Militaire  des  pays  et  protectorats  du 
Tchad."  It  includes  the  basins  of  the 
Kemo,  a  tributary  of  the  Ubangi,  and  of 
the  Shari,  and  also  Wadai,  Bagirmi,  and 
Kanem,  which  by  the  Anglo-French 
agreement  of  1899  were  included  in  the 
French  sphere  of  influence.  The  object  of 
this  organization  is  to  enable  France  to 
cease  sending  military  expeditions  to  this 
region.  All  the  soldiers  henceforth  of  this 
province  will  be  natives,  officered,  of 
course,  by  Frenchmen. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


4-7 


THE     FORESTS     OF     THE 
PHILIPPINES. 

THE  Philippine  Bureau  of  Forestry 
has  submitted  its  first  report  on 
the   forest  wealth  of  the  Philip- 
pine Islands. 

The  Bureau  was  organized  by  order 
of  the  Military  Governor,  April  14,  1900, 
to  ascertain  the  condition  of  the  forests 
and  the  regulations  adopted  by  the  Span- 
iards for  their  preservation. 

It  is  estimated  that  from  one-fourth  to 
one-half  the  area  of  the  Philippine  Isl- 
ands, or  from  twenty  to  forty  million 
acres,  are  public  forest  lands.  In  the  isl- 
ands of  Mindoro  and  Paragua  at  least 
5,000,000  acres  of  virgin  forests  are 
owned  by  the  State. 

The  island  of  Mindanao  with  an  area 
of  20,000,000  acres,  is  almost  entirely  cov- 
ered with  timber.  Even  in  the  province 
of  Cagayan,  Luzon,  there  are  more  than 
two  million  acres  of  forests.  In  some  of 
the  southern  islands  magnificent  tracts 
are  standing  with  from  10,000  to  20,000 
cubic  feet  an  acre  of  splendid  timber. 
The  trees  tower  to  a  height  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet,  often  shooting  up 
sixty  feet  without  a  single  branch  and  of 
a  diameter  of  four  feet. 

Captain  Ahern,  Director  of  the  Bureau, 
believes  that  there  are  as  many  as  five 
hundred  species  of  trees  in  the  archipel- 
ago. No  pure  forest  of  any  one  species 
exists.  Rarely  do  more  than  three  or  four 
trees  of  one  variety  grow  together.  Many 
varieties  of  valuable  gum,  rubber,  and 
gutta-percha  trees  are  found ;  also  seven- 
teen dyewoods  and  the  ylang  ylang  from 
whose  blossoms  so  many  perfumes  are 
made. 

It  is  stated  the  regulations  adopted  by 
the  Spanish  for  the  preservation  of  the 
forests  of  the  Philippines  were  in  line 
with  the  most  advanced  forestry  legisla- 
tion of  Europe.  But  these  rules  were  not 
enforced.  The  men  licensed  to  cut,  hewed 
indiscriminately ;  with  the  result  that  the 
most  valuable  rubber,  gutta-percha,  and 
ylang  ylang  trees  were  used  for  firewood. 


The  old  regulations  have  been  revised  by 
Captain  Ahern.  Lumbermen  are  now 
licensed  to  cut  only  certain  species. 

SOUTH     POLAR    EXPLORA- 
TION. 

THE  arrangements  for  the  British 
and  German  South  Polar  Expe- 
ditions which  sail  from  Europe 
in  August,  1901,  are  nearly  completed.  It 
is  expected  that  the  English  boat,  the 
Discovery,  will  be  launched  in  March  at 
Dundee.  She  is  a  good  strong  boat,  built 
on  different  lines  from  the  Fram,  for  the 
latter  was  planned  to  resist,  or  rather  es- 
cape, tremendous  ice-pressure,  while  the 
Discovery  was  modelled  to  withstand  the 
attacks  of  a  boisterous  sea.  The  German 
boat,  building  at  Kiel,  is  smaller  and 
lighter  than  the  Discovery  and  follows 
somewhat  the  lines  of  the  Fram. 

The  two  ships  sail  from  Europe  to- 
gether. The  official  statement  of  their 
plan  of  co-operation  is  as  follows : 

"  When  they  reach  the  far  South  they 
will  separate  with  a  carefully  arranged 
plan  of  work  for  each.  The  Antarctic 
regions  have  been  divided  into  four  quad- 
rants. First,  the  Victoria  quadrant, 
which  extends  from  90  degrees  east  to 
1 80  degrees,  and  includes  Victoria  Land ; 
second,  the  Ross  quadrant,  from  180  de- 
grees to  90  degrees  west,  south  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean ;  third,  the  Weddell  quad- 
rant, from  90  degrees  west  to  o  degree 
(Greenwich  meridian),  the  Weddell  Sea; 
and  fourth,  the  Enderby  quadrant,  from 
o  degree  to  90  degrees  east,  which 
includes  Enderby  Land.  Two  quadrants 
have  been  assigned  for  exploration  and 
research  to  each  expedition,  the  British 
taking  the  Victoria  and  Ross,  and  the  Ger- 
man the  Weddell  and  Enderby." 

Both  expeditions  hope  to  be  able  to 
spend  three  years  in  the  work.  Captain 
Drygalski,  the  famed  explorer  of  Green- 
land, leads  the  German  party,  while  Cap- 
tain Scott  of  the  British  Navy,  young, 
hardy,  and  level-headed,  directs  the  Eng- 
lish. 


4-8 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


THE  PRINCIPLES  UNDER- 
LYING THE  SURVEY  OF 
THE  BOTTOM  OF  THE 
OCEAN  FOR  AN  ALL- 
AMERICAN  TRANS- 
PACIFIC CABLE  TO  THE 
PHILIPPINES  AND  THE 
ORIENT. 

THE  object  of  such  a  survey  is  so 
to  develop  the  mountain  systems  of 
the  bottom  of  the  ocean  that  every 
large  change  of  elevation  will  be  dis- 
closed and  allowed  for  in  the  laying  of 
the  cable;  and  the  problem  therefore  is 
to  determine  the  intervals  at  which  deep- 
sea  soundings  should  be  taken  in  order 
that  important  mountain  systems  may 
not  escape  detection  and  subsequent  de- 
velopment. 

The  survey  consists  of  two  main  parts : 
first,  direct  lines  of  soundings  spaced  at 
alternate  intervals  of  ten  and  two  miles 
passing  between  the  successive  landing 
stations  at  Honolulu,  Midway,  Guam, 
and  Luzon,  and  also  between  Guam  and 
Yokohama  in  Japan;  and  secondly,  of 
sounding  stations,  twenty  miles  apart,  at 
the  turning  points  of  a  zigzag  route  pass- 
ing back  and  forth  to  equal  distances  on 
each  side  of  the  direct  lines  of  soundings. 

The  direct  lines  were  run  in  passing 
to  the  westward  from  California  to  tne 
Orient,  and  they  give  the  general  con- 
tour of  the  bottom.  The  zigzag  lines 
were  run  in  returning  to  the  eastward 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  breadth  and 
configuration  to  the  forms  indicated  as  a 
result  of  the  depths  measured  along  the 
direct  lines.  This  distribution  of  sound- 
ings was  adopted  as  a  result  of  a  theo- 
retical investigation  giving  the  equation 
to  the  curve  which,  by  revolution  around 
a  vertical  axis,  would  generate  the  sur- 


face of  an  isolated  submarine  peak  in 
which  the  crushing  strength  at  any  cross- 
section  is  equal  to  the  combined  weight 
of  the  formation  above  that  section  and 
of  the  superincumbent  body  of  water. 

Taking  the  origin  of  co-ordinates  at 
the  apex  of  the  peak,  and  the  axes  of  y 
and  x  to  be  vertical  and  horizontal  re- 
spectively, the  equation  to  the  generat- 
ing curve  would  be  y  =  -  +  -  log  xt 

o  o 

in  which  K  represents  the  coefficient  of 
crushing  strength  of  the  materials  com- 
posing the  crust  of  the  earth,  8  the  aver- 
age density  of  these  materials,  and  8'  the 
density  of  sea-water.  The  shape  of  the 
formation  thus  described  resembles  the 
form  of  the  Eiffel  Tower,  but  is  much  flat- 
ter in  proportion  to  its  height. 

From  the  investigation  of  its  proper- 
ties it  appears  that  the  radius  which  a 
prominent  orographic  feature  can  have  at 
the  sea-bottom  may  be  stated  to  be  ten 
miles.  An  interval  of  ten  miles  coupleu 
with  an  interval  of  two  miles  is  the  very 
longest  that  would  be  sufficient  for  gen- 
eral development,  but  these  intervals  are 
small  enough  to  prove  with  certainty  the 
existence  or  absence  of  any  formation 
rising  close  to  the  surface  of  the  deep  sea. 

Of  all  the  possible  ways  in  which  a 
ten-mile  interval  could  lie  with  reference 
to  a  submerged  peak,  that  which  would 
be  most  advantageous  for  a  prompt  dis- 
covery is  the  condition  in  which  one  end 
of  the  interval  is  at  the  bottom  of  the 
slope  and  the  other  near  the  apex,  and 
that  which  would  be  least  advantageous 
is  the  condition  in  which  the  interval  is 
bisected  by  the  position  of  the  apex.  In 
the  latter  case  there  would  be  nearly 
equal  soundings  at  both  ends,  but  the 
soundings  at  the  ends  of  the  adjacent 
two-mile  intervals  would  immediately 
disclose  the  slopes. 

E.  W.  LITTLEHALES. 


VOL.  XII,  No.  2 


WASHINGTON 


FEBRUARY,  1901 


AN    AROUND-THE-WORLD    AMERICAN 

EXPOSITION 

BY   HON.  O.  P.  AUSTIN,  CHIEF  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  STATISTICS 


A  FLOATING  exposition,  carry- 
ing samples  of  our  merchandise 
around  the  world  and  putting  our 
merchants  in  touch  with  those  of  all 
nations,  seems  to  me  a  fitting  Ameri- 
can enterprise  for  the  beginning  of  the 
new  century.  The  nineteenth  century 
has  made  the  United  States  the  greatest 
exporting  nation  of  the  world  ;  why  not 
begin  the  twentieth  by  showing  to  all 
the  world  what  we  have  to  sell  and  how 
we  can  sell  it  ? 

Exhibitions  of  the  products  of  indus- 
try have  proved  beneficial  to  trade  wher- 
ever undertaken,  whether  the  ancient 
1 '  fair  ' '  or  the  more  modern  ' '  exposi- 
tion. ' '  The  traveling  salesman  with  his 
sample  cases  has  become  a  necessity  of 
modern  mercantile  success  ;  "  commer- 
cial museums  "  exhibit  to  the  dealers  of 
one  country  the  class  of  goods  required 
in  other  lands,  and  the  great  European 
nations  now  send  out  ' '  commercial  mis- 
sions ' '  to  inquire  into  and  report  upon 
the  trade  opportunities  in  distant  coun- 
tries. 

But  each  of  these  methods  has  its 
limit  of  influence.  The  fair  or  exposi- 


tion is  dependent  for  its  success  upon 
the  number,  of  people  it  can  attract  to  its 
doors,  the  traveling  salesman  represents 
but  a  single  establishment  or  industry, 
the  commercial  museum  conveys  its  in- 
formation only  to  the  seller  and  not  to 
the  buyer,  and  the  commercial  mission 
gathers  information  regarding  the  wants 
of  distant  people,  but  is  unable  to  offer 
them  samples  of  the  goods  which  its  own 
people  have  to  meet  those  wants. 

Why  not  combine  the  valuable  features 
of  these  various  aids  to  commerce  in  a 
single  great  enterprise — a  "  floating  ex- 
position," which  shall  carry  samples  of 
our  merchandise  to  the  very  doors  of  the 
people  whose  trade  we  would  foster,  and 
by  bringing  the  buyer  and  seller  into 
personal  contact,  establish  such  mutual 
understanding  of  wants  and  conditions 
as  to  facilitate  the  interchange  for  which 
each  is  desirous  ? 

FIELDS    AWAITING    AMERICAN 
ENTERPRISE. 

The  imports  of  Asia,  Oceania,  Africa, 
and  the  American  countries  south  of  the 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC    MAGAZINE 


United  States  amount  to  over  two  bill- 
ion dollars  every  year.  Nearly  all  of 
these  importations  are  of  the  very  class 
of  goods  which  we  want  to  sell — foodstuffs, 
textiles,  mineral  oils,  machinery,  and 
manufactures  of  all  kinds;  yet  our  sales 
to  these  grand  divisions  in  the  best  year 
of  our  commerce,  1900,  only  amounted 
to  about  $200, 000,000,  or  10  per  cent 
of  their  purchases.  The  annual  im- 
ports of  Asia  and  Oceania  are  over  a 
billion  dollars,  those  of  Africa  over  four 
hundred  millions,  and  those  of  the  coun- 
tries lying  south  of  the  United  States 
about  six  hundred  millions. 

Most  of  the  cities  through  which  these 
two  billion  dollars'  worth  of  goods  are 
first  distributed  lie  on  the  seacoast,  and 
could  be  readily  reached  by  a  fleet  of 
vessels  loaded  with  samples  of  American 
products  and  manufactures.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  lack  of  practical  know- 
ledge as  to  the  local  trade  requirements, 
such  as  methods  of  packing,  kind  of 
goods  required,  length  of  credit,  etc.,  is 
the  chief  obstacle  to  the  introduction  of 
American  goods  in  these  countries,  and 
that  until  this  obstacle  shall  have  been 
overcome  we  cannot  expect  to  obtain  the 
share  in  that  trade  to  which  our  location 
and  facilities  of  production  and  manu- 
facture entitle  us. 

If  a  floating  exposition  were  system- 
atically organized,  loading  one  vessel 
with  exhibits  of  foodstuffs,  another  with 
textiles,  another  with  agricultural  im- 
plements and  vehicles,  another  with 
manufactures  of  iron  and  steel,  another 
with  household  requirements,  and  an- 
other with  "  Yankee  notions,"  and  sent 
from  port  to  port  and  continent  to  con- 
tinent, it  should  prove  highly  advanta- 
geous to  our  commercial  relations  with 
all  of  the  countries  visited. 

Every  manufacturer  or  exporter  send- 
ing an  exhibit  would  naturally  send  with 
it  a  capable  representative,  who  could  dis- 
cuss with  the  local  merchant  the  qualities 
of  his  goods  and  their  fitness  or  unfitness 
for  local  markets. 


The  coming  of  an  exhibition  of  this 
character  would  attract  at  each  port  not 
only  the  business  men  of  that  citv,  but 
those  of  other  commercial  centers  in  the 
vicinity,  and  by  this  process  the  whole- 
sale merchant  of  the  United  States  would 
speak  face  to  face  with  those  of  every 
country  visited,  and  in  these  discussions 
would  learn  in  a  practical  way  the  obsta- 
cles which  now  prevent  a  free  interchange 
of  commerce  and  the  methods  by  which 
they  can  be  overcome. 

In  addition  to  this,  a  corps  of  experts 
could  gather  samples  of  the  goods  now 
being  sold  in  the  countries  visited,  the 
pricesobtained, the  lengthof  credit  given, 
the  banking  and  exchange  facilities  ex- 
isting and  required,  and  other  facts  which 
would  prove  valuable  not  only  to  those 
directly  participating  in  the  enterprise, 
but  to  all  manufacturers  and  merchants 
of  the  United  States,  by  their  exhibition 
in  commercial  museums  and  by  published 
reports. 

THE   FINANCING  OF   A   FLOATING 
EXPOSITION. 

The  financing  of  an  undertaking  which 

contemplates  sending  a  fleet  of  a  half 
dozen  vessels  for  a  two  years'  voyage 
around  the  world  appears  at  first  sight  a 
serious  problem  ;  but  present  conditions 
seem  to  be  exceptionally  favorable. 

The  producers,  manufacturers,  and 
merchants  of  the  United  States  are 
greatly  interested  in  the  extension  of 
markets  for  American  goods,  and  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics  is  daily  besieged 
with  inquiries  for  information  bearing 
upon  this  subject.  The  past  three  years 
have  been  exceptionally  successful,  and 
yet  have  shown  the  necessity  of  finding 
an  increased  outlet  for  the  surplus  which 
the  American  manufacturers  show  them- 
selves capable  of  producing,  and  it  seems 
not  unreasonable  to  believe  that  they 
would  look  upon  a  reasonable  expendi- 
ture for  the  extension  of  trade  as  money 
well  invested.  A  great  world's  fair  has 


52 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


just  been  held  at  Paris,  at  which  many 
Americans  made  exhibits,  some  parts  of 
which  would  be  suited  to  a  floating  ex- 
position such  as  has  been  suggested.  A 
great  exposition,  especially  intended  to 
apply  to  the  people  of  Central  and  South 
America,  is  to  be  held  at  Buffalo  this 
year,  and  its  exhibits  would  in  many 
cases  prove  a  basis  for  an  undertaking 
of  this  kind,  while  another  exposition, 
especially  relating  to  the  West  Indian 
trade,  is  to  be  held  at  Charleston.  Thus, 
in  the  disposition  to  extend  our  com- 
merce, in  a  prosperity  which  warrants 
new  business  ventures,  and  even  in 
the  partial  preparation  of  exhibits,  the 
circumstances  appear  to  be  especially 
favorable. 

But  there  is  still  another  condition 
which  seems  even  more  opportune  and 
advantageous.  The  Government  is  the 
possessor  of  a  considerable  number  of 
safe  and  seaworthy  merchant  vessels 
purchased  as  transports  during  the  war 
with  Spain,  for  many  of  which  it  will 
not  have  active  use  after  the  close  of 
hostilities  in  the  Philippines.  If  some 
of  these  vessels  could  be  utilized  for  this 
work  the  problem,  as  to  cost,  would  be 
greatly  simplified. 

Congress  has  always  dealt  liberally 
with  expositions  intended  to  improve 
our  commerce,  either  at  home  or  abroad, 
and  it  seems  not  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  if  applied  to. by  a  proper  business 
organization  it  might  loan  the  necessary 
vessels  for  an  enterprise  of  this  kind. 
The  appropriations  of  money  made  by 
Congress  in  behalf  of  expositions  at 
home  and  abroad  in  the  past  25  years 
amount  to  over  $10,000,000,  and  in  view 
of  this  it  would  appear  probable  that  an 
appeal  from  a  properly  organized  associa- 
tion of  business  men  might  meet  with 
favorable  consideration. 

If  there  could  be  added  to  this  fleet  of 
five  or  six  merchant  vessels  a  naval  ves- 
sel or  two  to  convoy  the  fleet  around  the 
world  and  add  to  its  attractiveness  and 
dignity,  the  success  of  the  enterprise,  in- 


telligently managed,  should  be  assured. 
The  chief  expense  which  the  ordinary 
exposition  must  undergo  is  the  erection 
of  buildings.  The  construction  account 
of  the  Woild's  Fair  in  1893  was  7°  P61" 
cent  of  the  entire  cost.  With  this  ex- 
pense obviated  by  the  loan  of  vessels,  if 
they  could  be  so  obtained,  the  cost  of 
the  undertaking  would  lie  chiefly  in  the 
coal  consumed  in  passing  from  port  to 
port,  and  in  the  force  of  men  necessary 
for  the  management  of  the  vessels,  and 
this  might  also  be  small  in  case  Con- 
gress should  accompany  the  loan  of  the 
vessels  with  a  suitable  detail  from  the 
military  or  naval  force  for  their  manage- 
ment. 

Whether  the  expense  should  be  borne 
solely  by  those  participating  in  the  ex- 
hibition in  proportion  to  the  space  they 
might  occupy,  or  be  met  in  part  by  a 
small  charge  for  admission  could  be  de- 
termined by  those  guaranteeing  the  ex- 
pense of  the  enterprise.  In  the  ordinary 
exposition  the  chief  receipts  are  from 
admissions,  and  these  are  drawn  en- 
tirely from  the  population  of  the  city 
where  the  exposition  occurs  and  from 
those  visiting  that  city  for  that  purpose, 
while  in  the  case  of  a  floating  exposition 
visiting  great  cities  in  various  parts  of 
the  world  the  local  population  which 
could  be  appealed  to  would  aggregate 
many  millions. 
i 

THE  ROUTE   FOR  A  FLOATING 
EXPOSITION. 

The  route  which  a  floating  exposition 
might  determine  for  itself  would  be 
bounded  only  by  the  limits  of  the  great 
seas  upon  which  it  would  float.  Start- 
ing from  the  eastern  coast  of  the  United 
States,  it  would  perhaps  make  its  first 
stop  at  our  new  possession,  Porto  Rico, 
thence  to  Cuba  and  other  of  the  West 
Indies,  thence  to  the  principal  cities  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  Central  and  South 
America,  thence  along  the  western  coast 
of  America  .then  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 


THE   SIEGE   OF   PEKIN 


53 


Japan,  Korea,  Asiatic  Russia,  the  coast 
cities  of  China,  the  Philippines,  Siam,  the 
Dutch  East  Indies,  Australia,  the  Ma- 
lay Peninsula,  India,  Persia,  Arabia, 
the  eastern  and  then  the  western  coast 
of  Africa,  then  a  tour  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  the  cities  of  western  Europe, 


and  thence  back  to  the  place  of  origin, 
occupying  two  or  perhaps  three  years, 
and  meantime  carrying  the  American 
flag  and  American  enterprise  to  every 
part  of  the  world.  Why  not  an  Around- 
the-world  American  Exposition  to  in- 
augurate the  twentieth  century  ? 


THE  CAUSES  THAT  LED  UP  TO  THE  SIEGE 

OF   PEKIN 

BY  DR.  W.  A.  P.  MARTIN 


I  HAVE  been  asked  to  give  some 
account  of  the  siege  in  Pekin,  to- 
gether with  the  causes  that  led  up 
to  it,  and  its  probable  outcome.  No 
proper  view  of  the  thrilling  events  which 
have  there  taken  place  can  be  given 
without  first  touching  upon  the  geo- 
graphical situation.  Man  is  moulded 
by  his  environment,  and  it  would  not 
be  difficult  to  show  how  the  character 
of  the  Chinese — physical,  moral,  and 
intellectual — has  been  formed  by  the 
geography  of  their  country. 

Of  England  a  well-known  poet,  after 
satirizing  the  villainous  climate  of  his 
country,  exclaims: 

'  'Tis  thus,  with  rigor  for  his  good  designed, 
She  rears  her  favorite  man  of  all  mankind." 

A  Chinese  philosopher  would  unques- 
tionably adopt  without  objection  every 
word  of  the  English  poet,  and  he  would 
lay  special  emphasis  on  the  phrase  ' '  her 
favorite  man  of  all  mankind."  He 
reads  in  the  ancient  books  of  his  own 
country  a  tradition  that  man  was  made 
not  of  dust,  but  of  clay,  the  clay  being 
of  different  colors.  The  Chinese  were 
made  first,  and  of  yellow  clay;  hence 
they  gave  themselves  the  flattering  des- 
ignation of  ' '  Men  of  Gold. ' '  That  title 


we  find  to  have  been  a  common  one 
among  the  Tatars  of  the  north.  In 
the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  a 
large  part  of  northern  China  was  sub- 
ject to  a  body  of  Tatars,  who  bore  the 
tribal  name  of  ' '  Golden  Horde. ' '  The 
present  rulers  of  China,  called  Manchus, 
claim  them  for  their  remote  ancestors, 
and  continue  to  wear  the  same  title  of 
"  Golden  Horde  " — in  the  Manchu  lan- 
guage "Aischin  Gwro." 

SEVEN  CENTURIES  OF  FOREIGN 
RULE. 

The  relations  of  the  Tatars  to  the 
Chinese  from  time  immemorial  have 
been  very  similar  to  those  of  the  Shep- 
herd Kings  to  the  rich  inhabitants  of  the 
Nile  Valley.  The  Chinese  depended 
upon  agriculture,  while  the  wandering 
nomads  of  the  northern  plains  subsisted 
on  their  flocks  and  herds  without  settled 
homes.  They  were  always  ready  to 
make  incursions  into  the  bordering  prov- 
inces of  China,  and  oftentimes  succeeded 
in  effecting  the  conquest  of  a  portion  or 
the  whole  of  the  Chinese  Empire. 

It  is  startling  to  discover  that  one  or 
other  of  these  Northern  tribes,  Mongol 
or  Manchu,  has  exercised  the  mastery 
over  China  for  seven  hundred  out  of  the 


54 


THE    NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


last  fifteen  hundred  years  ;  nor  are  the 
troubles  caused  by  them  limited  to  seven 
centuries,  for  the  Great  Wall,  so  huge  as 
to  form  a  geographical  feature  on  the 
surface  of  the  globe,  attests  a  perennial 
conflict  between  Tatar  and  Chinese,  for 
it  was  erected  two  hundred  and  forty 
years  before  the  Christian  era  for  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  keeping  the  Tatars  out. 
That  such  a  conflict  should  exist  from 
generation  to  generation  is  no  matter  of 
surprise.  Schiller  tells  us  that  it  began 
not  far  from  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and 
has  been  handed  down  from  Cain  and 
Abel  to  the  present  time.  His  version  of 
the  Bible  story  is  that  Abel's  sheep  tres- 
passed on  the  cornfields  of  his  brother 
Cain. 

A  Chinese  historian  says  of  the  Great 
Wall :  "It  required  so  much  labor  for  its 
construction  that  it  was  the  ruin  of  one 
generation,  but  it  was  the  salvation  of 
all  that  followed."  To  me  this  appears 
to  be  an  overestimate  of  its  benefits ;  for 
while  it  has  undoubtedly  served  the  pur- 
pose of  a  barrier  against  small  bodies  of 
marauders,  it  has  never  sufficed  to  re- 
strain great  armies  like  those  of  Jenghis 
Khan.  The  Manchus,  who  for  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty-six  years  have  held  the 
throne  in  Pekin,  were  not  under  the 
necessity  of  forcing  their  way  across  this 
international  barrier,  but  had  its  gates 
thrown  wide  open  for  them  by  a  Chinese 
general,  Wu  San  Kwei.  He  invited 
their  assistance  to  suppress  a  body  of 
rebels  who  had  taken  possession  of  the 
capital,  and  to  revenge  the  crimes  com- 
mitted by  them,  an  errand  very  similar 
to  that  of  the  eight  powers  now  in  occu- 
pation of  China.  The  rebels  were  easily 
put  to  flight,  but  when  the  general  of- 
fered to  pay  off  his  Tatar  allies  and  in- 
vited them  to  retire  to  the  north  of  the 
Great  Wall,  they  respectfully  declined 
to  do  so. 

A.n  old  fable  tells  us  that  an  ass,  in 
danger  of  being  driven  from  his  pasture 
grounds  by  a  horned  stag,  invited  a 
primitive  man  to  mount  on  his  back  and 


drive  away  his  enemy.  When  the  stag 
was  put  to  flight,  he  asked  the  man  to 
dismount  ;  but  he  was  an  ass  to  imagine 
that  the  man  would  comply  with  his 
\vishes. 

China  finds  herself  in  the  same  pre- 
dicament today.  Instead  of  the  Manchu- 
Tatars,  ranged  curiously  enough  under 
eight  banners,  she  finds  herself  com- 
pletely under  the  power  of  the  eight 
mightiest  nations  of  the  globe.  They  are 
in  the  saddle,  with  their  bit  in  the  ass's 
mouth,  and  though  that  noble  beast,  like 
that  of  the  ancient  prophet,  speaks  with 
human  voice, and  utters  an  energetic  pro- 
test, it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  some 
of  these  eight  nations  will  not  persist  in 
keeping  their  place  in  the  saddle. 

The  fact  that  China  is  and  has  been 
under  foreign  domination  for  two  cen- 
turies and  a  half  is  essential  to  the  com- 
prehension of  that  astounding  movement 
which  has  so  engrossed  the  attention  of 
the  world. 

What  motives,  we  are  asked,  could 
prove  themselves  so  potent  in  their  effect 
on  all  classes  in  that  empire  as  to  bring 
about  combined  action  of  high  and  low 
for  the  expulsion  of  foreigners  ?  I  an- 
swer that  there  are  three  motives  which, 
taken  in  connection  with  the  circum- 
stances of  the  age,  appear  to  me  to  be 
sufficient  to  account  for  the  phenome- 
non. They  are:  first,  political  jealousy, 
second,  religious  antipathy,  and  last, 
but  not  least,  industrial  competition. 
These  have  operated  in  different  propor- 
tions on  different  classes,  while  in  some 
instances  all  three  have  combined  to 
produce  their  effect  on  the  mind  of  one 
class.  The  existence  of  political  jeal- 
ousy is  inseparable  from  a  foreign  domi- 
nation. 

The  Manchu  dynasty,  though  it  has 
produced  many  able  rulers,  has  never 
been  free  from  the  influence  of  that  kind 
of  jealousy.  The  Manchus  have  always 
feared,  since  the  dawn  of  commercial 
intercourse  with  the  great  nations  of 
the  west,  that  some  of  those  nations 


THE   SIEGE   OF  .PEKIN 


55 


would  endeavor  to  supplant  them  in  the 
occupation  of  China.  They  have  ac- 
cordingly been  suspicious  of  everything, 
whether  commerce,  missionary  enter- 
prise, or  railways  and  mines,  which 
tended  to  increase  the  prestige  of  for- 
eigners. Some  of  these  undertakings 
they  have  looked  upon  as  a  preemption 
claim  on  their  territory;  others  as  a  set- 
tled scheme  for  winning  away  the  hearts 
of  their  people.  You  will  naturally 
infer  that  they  have  never  shown  them- 
selves, with  one  exception  which  I  shall 
presently  mention,  very  solicitous  for 
the  intellectual  enlightenment  of  their 
Chinese  subjects. 

The  old  philosopher,  L,aotse,  lays 
down  as  a  maxim  for  easy  government, 
in  satire  no  doubt,  that  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  fill  the  people's  bellies  and  to 
empty  their  skulls.  On  this  the  pres- 
ent rulers  of  China — I  mean  the  Empress 
Dowager  and  her  clique — are  acting  in 
the  suppression  of  schools,  the  interdic- 
tion of  newspapers,  and  the  attempted 
extirpation  of  Christian  missions. 

THE  REFORMS  ATTEMPTED  BY 
EMPEROR  KWANG  SU. 

The  exception  is  a  remarkable  one. 
It  is  the  young  Emperor,  Kwang  Su, 
who  is  in  no  degree  responsible  for  hos- 
tilities with  foreign  powers,  but  is  rather 
to  be  regarded  as  the  first  victim  on  a 
long  and  sanguinary  list.  Nephew  of 
the  Empress  Dowager,  he  was  adopted 
by  her  at  the  age  of  three. 

With  a  view  to  preparing  him  for  his 
great  destiny,  he  was  provided  with 
numerous  instructors,  two  of  whom  were 
my  own  students.  Their  duty  was  to 
induct  His  Majesty  into  a  knowledge  of 
the  English  language,  and,  in  order  to 
be  sure  that  the  lessons  which  they  set 
for  him  were  correct,  they  always  sub- 
mitted them  to  me  for  approval.  I  shall 
not  affirm,  therefore,  that  I  am  entirely 
innocent  of  having  exerted  some  influ- 
ence to  bias  the  mind  of  the  young 
Emperor. 


It  is  impossible  that  he  should  have 
studied  English  without  becoming  in- 
fected with  progressive  ideas.  Still,  the 
blame,  or  the  honor,  of  having  perverted 
the  mind  of  the  ' '  illustrious  successor  ' ' 
(as  his  name  signifies)  belongs  to  Kang 
Yu  Wei  more  than  to  any  one  else.  This 
patriotic  scholar  perceived  the  necessity 
of  reforming  the  educational  system  of 
China  in  order  to  secure  the  permanent 
independence  of  his  country.  He  gained 
the  ear  of  the  Emperor, and  of  that  young 
man  it  is  no  little  praise  to  say  that  he 
possessed  the  intellectual  capacity  to 
comprehend  the  ideas  of  the  bold  re- 
former and  the  strength  of  will  to  resolve 
on  carrying  them  into  effect. 

He  issued  decree  after  decree,  with 
startling  rapidity,  setting  aside  the  effete 
system  of  essays  and  sonnets  in  civil 
service  examinations,  in  favor  of  the 
sciences  and  practical  arts  of  the  modern 
world. 

In  order  to  prepare  students  for  these 
new  tests,  a  system  of  common  schools 
was  to  be  established,  Taoist,  Buddhist, 
and  Confucian  temples  being  placed  at 
their  disposal.  Middle  schools  were  to 
be  established  in  all  the  districts,  and 
colleges  in  the  several  provinces,  with  a 
new  university  in  the  capital  for  the 
graduates  of  provincial  institutions  and 
for  the  sons  of  the  nobility. 

Nor  did  His  Majesty  stop  with  educa- 
tional reform.  He  diligently  sought  to 
prune  away  the  dead  branches  of  the  tree 
in  order  to  increase  the  quantity  and  im- 
prove the  quality  of  its  fruit.  Sinecures 
in  the  Mandarinate  were  abolished,  and 
new  bureaus  inaugurated,  such  as  those 
for  commerce,  mining,  and  agriculture. 

More  than  all,  he  resolved  to  confer 
on  his  people  the  priceless  boon  of  free 
speech,  ordaining  that  even  junior  offi- 
cials should  have  the  privilege  of  ad- 
dressing the  throne  without  let  or  hin- 
drance. 

This  was  the  rock  on  which  his  noble 
scheme  of  reform  was  shattered.  A 
young  man,  a  doctor  in  the  Han  Lin, 
who  was  well  known  to  me,  through  a 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


junior  member  in  the  Board  of  Rites, 
drew  tip  a  memorial  proposing  numer- 
ous changes  in  the  administration  of  the 
government.  His  chiefs,  all  old  men, 
and  mostly  Tatars,  refused  to  transmit 
the  document  to  the  throne.  The  Em- 
peror,  on  learning  that  they  had  dared  to 
intervene  between  him  and  his  officials, 
flew  into  a  towering  rage,  stripped  them 
of  their  official  honors,  and  threatened  to 
dismiss  them  from  the  public  service. 

Those  old  men,  smarting  under  the 
disgrace,  posted  away  to  the  country 
palace  and  threw  themselves  at  the  feet 
of  the  Empress  Dowager,  begging  her 
to  come  out  of  her  retirement  and  save 
the  Empire  from  the  hands  of  a  young 
man  who  was  driving  the  chariot  of  state 
so  furiously  that  there  was  danger  of  his 
setting  the  world  on  fire.  She  had  been 
regent  twice  before,  but  she  had  never 
retired  altogether  from  the  world  of  pol- 
itics. With  her  neither  card  parties  nor 
novels  nor  theatrical  shows  could  com- 
pete in  interest  with  the  political  chess- 
board; in  all  moves  on  that  board  her 
fingers  had  been  more  or  less  concerned. 
Eagerly  did  she  embrace  the  invitation, 
and  as  with  a  bolt  out  of  the  blue  heavens 
she  struck  down  the  impetuous  youth, 
compelling  him  to  sign  a  paper  begging 
her  to  teach  him  how  to  govern.  By 
way  of  justifying  her  action,  she  issued 
an  edict,  in  which,  among  other  things, 
she  said  that  her  subjects  must  not  sup- 
pose that  she  was  opposed  to  rational 
progress.  It  does  not  follow,  she  said, 
that  we  should  stop  eating  because  we 
have  been  choked.  She  meant  to  sa)^ 
that  her  adopted  son  had  crammed  his 
reforms  down  the  throats  of  his  people 
too  fast  for  their  digestion.  She  in- 
tended to  administer  them  with  judicious 
moderation,  in  such  quantity  and  degree 
as  would  make  them  easier  of  assimila- 
tion. 

Well  had  it  been  for  her  and  her  dy- 
nasty had  she  adhered  to  this  principle; 
on  the  contrary,  throwing  herself  into 
the  hands  of  a  reactionary  part}',  instead 


of  progress  she  entered  upon  an  anti- 
foreign  reaction  in  which  a  disastrous 
smash-up  became  inevitable.  £  he  began 
by  canceling  all  the  educational  and 
other  administrative  reforms  inaugu- 
rated by  the  young  Emperor. 

The  only  one  of  the  institutions  estab- 
lished by  him  which  she  permitted  to 
remain  was  the  new  university.  That 
institution  she  no  doubt  spared  because 
it  had  been  favored  or,  as  one  might 
say,  founded  by  Li  Hung  Chang,  who, 
by  the  way,  though  he  still  continues  to 
be  her  faithful  servant,  has  behind  him 
a  record  of  imperishable  glory  as  the 
foremost  patron  of  the  new  education  in 
the  Chinese  Empire.  It  was  he  who  rec- 
ommended me  for  the  presidency  of  the 
university,  which  I  may  describe  as  at 
present  in  a  state  of  suspended  animation , 
the  Russians  having  seized  on  the  build- 
ings for  soldiers'  barracks  and  threatened 
to  confiscate  its  funds,  which  were  depos- 
ited in  Russian  banks. 

THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  ANTI-FOREIGN 
FEELING  IN  CHINA. 

A  little  before  the  con/)  d'etat  Germany 
had  seized  a  seaport  by  way  of  reprisals 
for  the  murder  of  two  of  her  missionaries 
in  the  south  of  Shantung.  Russia  de- 
manded the  cession  of  Port  Arthur  as  an 
offset.  England  insisted  on  having  Wei 
Hai  Wei,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  gulf, 
in  order  to  keep  watch  on  the  movements 
of  her  northern  rival.  France,  in  the  far 
south,  protested  against  being  left  out  in 
the  cold,  for  was  she  not  as  great  a  power 
as  any  of  them  ?  She  demanded  that 
the  equilibrium  of  the  political  balance 
should  be  maintained  by  giving  her  the 
Bay  of  Kwang  chau,  not  far  from  the 
borders  of  her  Anamite  Empire.  The 
Empress,  who  by  this  time  had  become 
Regent  for  the  third  time,  was  irritated 
beyond  endurance,  and  while  she  feigned 
to  yield  to  these  demands  rather  than  to 
make  war  without  due  preparation,  she 
made  it  known  to  her  people  that  if  any 


THE   SIEGE  OF  PEKIN 


57 


other  nation  should  come  forward  with 
similar  demands,  she  would  declare  war 
with  or  without  preparation.  In  the 
meantime  she  made  extensive  purchases 
of  war  material,  and  sought  by  every 
means  to  propagate  anti-foreign  feeling 
among  her  people  as  the  best  safeguard 
against  foreign  aggression. 

Never  had  the  anti-foreign  feeling 
been  at  so  low  an  ebb  as  during  the  short 
reign  of  the  young  Emperor.  An 
awakening  had  shown  itself  among  the 
Chinese  people,  which  might  be  de- 
scribed as  a  shaking  among  the  dry 
bones.  Newspapers  in  the  Chinese  lan- 
guage had  increased  in  two  or  three 
years  from  17  to  76.  The  publication 
of  the  society  for  the  diffusion  of  Chris- 
tian and  useful  knowledge,  consisting 
not  of  "  Christian  science,"  but  science 
christianized,  increased  within  the  same 
time  from  $800  to  $18,000.  The  whole 
people  were  penetrated  with  a  desire  for 
progress,  and  though  they  had  been 
recently  beaten  in  war  by  the  Japanese, 
they  proposed  to  imitate  their  victorious 
enemies  and  learn  the  best  lessons  of  the 
west  as  the  surest  way  of  rehabilitation. 

When  the  Marquis  Ito  visited  China, 
a  little  more  than  two  years  ago,  I  com- 
plimented him  on  the  influence  which 
his  country  was  exerting  on  China  in 
.consequence  of  being  her  nearest  neigh- 
bor. I  compared  it  to  the  tide,  raised 
by  the  moon,  as  our  nearest  neighbor 
in  the  solar  system  ;  but  I  took  care  not 
to  hint  that  his  country,  like  the  moon, 
was  shining  by  borrowed  light.  Yet  it 
is  true  that  the  reforms  which  China  and 
her  young  Emperor  so  much  admired 
were  borrowed  at  second  hand  from 
these  United  States. 

Immediately  on  the  occupation  of  Kiao 
chau  the  Germans  proceeded  to  lay  out 
railways  in  different  directions  across 
the  province  of  Shantung,  which  they 
claimed  as  their  sphere  of  influence,  and 
which  some  of  their  newspapers,  by  way 
of  anticipation,  described  as  "German 
China;"  The  natives  were  aroused, 


much  more  by  these  enterprises  than  by 
any  abstract  question  of  infringement  of 
territorial  rights.  To  them  it  appeared 
horrible  that  the  spirits  of  their  ances- 
tors should  be  waked  by  the  snorting  of 
the  iron  horse, and  that  cemeteries  should 
be  desecrated  by  the  passage  of  the  iron 
road.  They  everywhere  set  upon  the 
engineers  and  impeded  the  prosecution 
of  their  work.  The  most  active  in  lead- 
ing this  opposition  were  the  members  of 
a  secret  society  called  "  Boxers." 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  THE  BOXERS. 

That  society  is  not  a  new  one  called 
into  existence,  as  has  been  supposed,  by 
the  work  of  missions.  On  the  contrary, 
it  gave  trouble  more  than  a  century  ago 
to  the  Chinese  Government,  and  in  1803 
was  formally  placed  upon  the  index  of 
forbidden  associations.  Since  then  it 
has  languished  in  obscurity  until  recent 
events  called  it  into  life,  and  until  the 
favor  shown  it  by  the  Empress  Dowager 
transformed  it  into  a  great  political 
party.  The  doctrine  to  which  it  owes  its 
existence  is  not  orthodox  Confucianism, 
Buddhism,  or  Taoism,  but  a  supersti- 
tion based  on  hypnotism,  mesmerism,  or 
spiritualism,  as  it  is  variously  called. 
Among  its  members  are  many  whose 
nervous  condition  fits  them  for  spiritu- 
alistic mediums,  and  through  these  the 
society  gets  oracles  from  the  unseen 
world.  They  undergo  a  species  of  drill, 
which  is  intended  to  enable  each  mem- 
ber at  will  to  go  into  the  trance  state. 
When  in  that  condition  they  profess  to 
be  endowed  with  supernatural  strength 
and  rendered  bullet-proof.  These  mys- 
teries, so  piquant  to  the  curious  at  all 
times,  were  particularly  attractive  in 
view  of  possible  hostilities  with  foreign 
nations.  The  organization  spread  like 
wildfire  among  the  people  of  Shantung, 
and  the  Manchu  governor,  finding  in 
these  people  an  auxiliary  force,  supplied 
them  with  arms. 

The   Empress   Dowager  and  Prince 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


Tuan  encouraged  them  to  come  to  the 
capital.  In  their  devastating  inarch  they 
killed  missionaries  and  laid  waste  Chris- 
tian villages;  nor  did  they  abstain  from 
many  a  village  which  was  not  Christian, 
but  which  excited  their  cupidity  by  the 
spoils  which  it  offered.  Reaching  the 
vicinity  of  the  capital,  they  tore  up  the 
railway  leading  to  the  west  and  burned 
down  the  stations  near  the  city.  Then 
it  was,  not  till  then,  that  the  ministers 
in  the  capital  awoke  to  the  seriousness 
of  the  situation.  Missionaries  had  been 
uttering  their  Cassandra  warnings,  but 
the  ministers  always  turned  for  informa- 
tion to  the  Tsung  Li  Yamen,  the  official 
organ  or  Foreign  Office  of  the  Chinese 
Government.  They  were  there  told  that 
these  Boxers  practiced  an  innocent  kind 
of  gymnastics,  and  if  they  did  sometimes 
show  themselves  turbulent  and  disposed 
to  quarrel  with  native  Christians,  it  was 
not  without  cause ;  but  the  Empress 
Dowager  intended  shortly  to  issue  a  de- 
cree dismissing  them  to  their  homes. 
Such  decrees  were  issued,  accompanied 
by  secret  instructions  not  to  regard  them. 

THE  SIEGE. 

The  meaning  of  the  destruction  of  the 
railway  was  not  to  be  misunderstood;  the 
ministers,  without  waiting  for  the  con- 
sent of  the  Chinese  Government,  ordered 
a  guard  of  marines  to  be  sent  up  from 
the  seacoast,  and  they  arrived  not  a  day 
too  soon.  The  next  day  the  railway  to 
the  east  was  also  broken  up,  and  had 
their  arrival  been  delayed  forty-eight 
hours  no  foreigner  in  Pekin  would  have 
lived  to  tell  the  tale.  They  were  only 
350  in  number,  but  their  mere  presence 
for  a  time  held  our  enemies  in  check, 
and  they  served  eventually  to  make  good 
the  defense  of  the  legations. 

On  June  u,  a  fortnight  after  their  ar- 
rival, an  attache  of  the  Japanese  Lega- 
tion was  killed  at  the  railway  station  by 
Boxers  and  Chinese  soldiers  combined. 
This  may  be  regarded  as  introducing  the 


first  stage  of  the  siege;  for  the  next  nine 
days  the  Boxers  were  specially  promi- 
nent, setting  fire  not  only  to  churches 
and  mission  houses,  but  burning  up  all 
the  native  storehouses  which  they  sus- 
pected of  containing  foreign  goods. 
Square  miles  of  ground  were  left  !>y 
them  covered  with  the  ruins  of  the  rich- 
est business  houses  in  Pekin.  On  June 
193  circular  from  the  Foreign  Office  in- 
formed the  foreign  ministers  that  the 
admirals  had  demanded  the  surrender  of 
the  forts  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  This, 
said  they,  is  an  act  of  war.  You  must 
now  quit  the  capital  with  all  your  people 
within  four  and  twenty  hours  The 
ministers  agreed  to  protest  against  the 
severity  of  this  condition.  The  first  to 
set  out  for  the  Foreign  Office  with  this 
purpose  in  view  was  Baron  von  Ketteler, 
the  German  Minister.  No  sooner  had 
he  reached  the  great  street  than  he  was 
shot  in  the  back  by  a  man  wearing  the 
official  costume  of  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment, and  fell  dead.  His  interpreter 
was  wounded,  but  succeeded  in  making 
his  escape  and  giving  the  alarm. 

The  other  ministers  believed  that  a 
general  massacre  had  begun,  and  with 
their  people,  who  had  already  taken 
refuge  under  their  several  flags,  they 
fled  precipitately  to  the  British  legation, 
which,  having  been  the  residence  of  a 
high  prince,  covered  a  large  space  of 
ground  and  was  surrounded  by  strong 
walls,  forming  a  citadel  capable  of  de- 
fense. It  had  accordingly  been  agreed 
upon  as  a  place  to  make  a  stand  in  the 
last  resort,  and  Sir  Claude  MacDonald 
not  only  generously  welcomed  his  col- 
leagues, but  received  all  their  people, 
whether  civilian  or  missionary.  The 
missionaries  were  accompanied  by  their 
converts,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  to  the 
number  of  nearly  two  thousand.  For 
the  converts  an  asylum  was  secured  in 
the  grounds  of  a  Mongol  prince  on  the 
opposite  side  of  a  canal  from  the  British 
legation.  Professor  James,  the  man 
chiefly  instrumental  in  securing  it,  was 


THE   SIEGE   OF-PEKIN 


59 


himself  slain  by  the  enemy  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  same  day.  Had  the  enemy 
followed  up  their  advantage  they  might, 
perhaps,  in  the  midst  of  our  first  confu- 
sion, have  overwhelmed  all  the  lega- 
tions; but  they  feared  to  come  to  close 
quarters. 

Some  of  the  outlying  legations  were 
destroyed  by  fire,  but  most  of  them  were 
included  within  our  line  of  defense. 
None  of  them,  however,  except  the 
legation  of  Great  Britain,  was  consid- 
ered safe  for  the  residence  of  a  diplo- 
matic family. 

Within  the  gates  of  the  British  lega- 
tion, which  covered  six  or  seven  acres 
of  ground  and  contained  twenty  or  thirty 
different  buildings,  were  congregated 
nearly  one  thousand  foreigners,  and 
from  this  time  for  eight  weeks  we  were 
closely  besieged,  not  by  Boxers,  but  by 
the  soldiers  of  the  Chinese  government. 
That  very  evening,  at  nightfall,  they 
opened  with  a  terrible  fusillade,  and 
this  was  renewed  day  after  day,  chiefly 
under  cover  of  night;  so  that  we  came 
to  speak  of  it  rather  contemptuously  as 
a  "serenade."  It  was  not,  however, 
altogether  ineffective,  for  day  by  day 
some  of  our  men  were  killed  or  wounded, 
and  in  the  sorties,  which  were  occasion- 
ally made  to  drive  our  assailants  back 
or  to  silence  their  batteries,  the  casual- 
ties were  always  serious. 

What  we  most  dreaded  was  the  fire- 
brand, and  when  the  ruthless  enemy, 
with  more  than  vandal  ferocity,  set  fire 
to  the  library  of  the  Imperial  Academy, 
for  the  purpose  of  burning  us  out,  we 
all  had  to  assist  in  fighting  the  flames. 
Women  and  children,  including  the 
wives  of  ministers,  passed  buckets  from 
hand  to  hand.  A  change  of  wind  came 
to  our  aid,  and  the  legation  was  saved. 
At  first  the  enemy  assailed  us  only  with 
fire  and  small  arms  ;  gradually,  how- 
ever, they  got  guns  of  considerable 
calibre  in  position,  and  at  all  hours  of 
the  day  attacked  us  with  shell  and 
round  shot. 


Mrs.  Conger,  wife  of  the  minister,  in 
whose  family  I  was  kindly  received  as 
a  guest,  had  embraced  the  ideal  philos- 
ophy of  Bishop  Berkeley,  and  looked 
on  all  this  pyrotechny  as  a  play  of  the 
imagination.  I  envied  her  the  comfort- 
ing delusion,  for  when  I  went  out  and 
picked  up  a  six-pound  round  shot,  I 
found  it  too  heavy  and  solid  to  be  re- 
solved into  a  fancy.  Whether  owing 
to  her  philosophy  or  to  her  Christian 
faith,  she  is  one  of  the  most  admirable 
women  I  ever  knew  ;  calm  and  unper- 
turbed in  the  midst  of  danger,  she  real- 
ized the  description  which  Pope  gave 
200  years  ago  of  his  ideal  woman,  as 
' '  Mistress  of  herself  though  China  fall. ' ' 

Mr.  Conger,  an  old  soldier,  who  fought 
through  all  the  years  of  our  civil  war 
and  marched  with  Sherman  from  Atlanta 
to  the  sea,  met  the  trials  and  exigencies 
of  this  occasion  with  becoming  fortitude 
and  cool  judgment.  Diplomatist  as  well 
as  soldier,  he  knows  how  to  deal  with  the 
most  serious  questions  that  confront  him 
as  negotiator  in  this  Chinese  problem. 
His  daughter,  Miss  Conger,  had  visited 
many  water  cures  in  quest  of  health. 
The  fire  cure  to  which  she  was  now  ex- 
posed proved  to  be  the  required  remedy. 
On  the  first  fire  she  threw  herself  weep- 
ing into  her  father's  arms;  the  next  day 
she  listened  to  it  calmly,  and  then  from 
day  to  day  she  seemed  to  acquire  new 
strength,  until  she  came  out  of  the  siege 
restored  to  perfect  health. 

If  I  be  asked  how  we  spent  our  time, 
I  answer,  there  was  no  frivolity  and  no 
idleness.  Every  man  had  his  post  of 
duty.  Mine  was  to  serve  as  inspector  of 
passes  at  the  legation  gate  for  Chinese 
going  back  and  forth  between  the  lega- 
tions within  our  lines.  There  it  was  my 
sad  lot  to  see  many  fine  young  men  go 
out  full  of  life  and  hope,  to  come  in 
wounded,  maimed,  and  dying.  We  lost 
in  all,  killed  and  wounded,  more  than  a 
third  of  our  number. 

If  we  are  asked  what  we  lived  on,  I 
answer,  the  coarsest  of  bread  and  the 


6o 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


poorest  of  meat.  The  meat  was  that  of 
horses,  varied  by  an  occasional  mule; 
even  that  was  so  reduced  in  quantity  that 
only  three  ounces  per  diem  was  allowed 
for  each  individual.  Milk  was  a  luxury; 
even  condensed  milk  beyond  our  reach, 
and  no  fewer  than  six  or  seven  infant 
children  perished  for  want  of  it. 

While  the  men  fought  or  mounted 
guard  the  women  made  sand  bags  from 
day  to  day  to  the  number  of  many  thou- 
sands for  the  strengthening  of  our  forti- 
fications, and  by  their  calm  demeanor 
and  hopeful  words  they  strengthened 
the  arms  of  their  brave  defenders. 

On  one  occasion  it  was  deemed  neces- 
sary to  make  a  desperate  effort  to  regain 
possession  of  a  portion  of  the  city  wall 
which  dominated  these  legations.  A 
company  of  some  60  men — American, 
British,  and  Russian — was  formed  under 
the  lead  of  Captain  Myers,  of  the  U.  S. 
Marines.  When  ready  to  make  the  at- 
tack, and  hoping  to  take  the  enemy  by 
surprise,  he  made  a  short  speech. 

"  My  men,"  said  he,  "  within  yonder 
legation  there  are  300  women  and  chil- 
dren whose  lives  depend  upon  our  suc- 
cess. If  we  fail,  they  perish  and  we 
perish  with  them;  so  when  I  say  '  GO,' 
then  go." 

The  Americans  and  English  were 
thrilled  by  his  words,  and  the  Russians 
understood  his  gestures.  All  felt  that 
it  was  a  forlorn  hope,  and  all  were  ready 
to  lay  down  their  lives  to  insure  success. 

The  movement  proved  successful,  and 
that  portion  of  the  wall  remained  in  the 
possession  of  our  men  until  our  rescuers 
entered  by  the  water-gate  beneath  it. 

THE  RELIEF. 

When  the  siege  began  we  expected 
relief  in  a  few  days  ;  but  when  Sey- 
mour's column  was  driven  back  we  tried 
to  wait  with  patience  for  the  coming  of 
the  grand  army  under  the  eight  banners. 
Yet  so  closely  were  we  shut  up  that  we 
had  almost  no  information  as  to  its  move- 


ments, and  our  souls  were  sickened  by 
hope  deferred.  At  length,  when  our 
rations  had  run  almost  to  the  lowest 
ebb,  when  we  had  horse  meat  for  only 
two  days  more  and  bread  for  no  more 
than  a  fortnight,  so  that  starvation  ac- 
tually stared  us  in  the  face,  one  night, 
on  August  14,  a  sentry  rushed  into  Mr. 
Conger's  room,  where  I  also  wastrying  to 
sleep,  and  cried  out,  ' '  They  are  coming; 
they  are  coming;  the  army  of  relief  ! 
I  hear  their  guns  !  "  The  minister  and 
I  were  soon  in  the  open  air  ;  we  did  not 
wait  to  put  on  our  clothes,  for  we  had 
never  taken  them  off.  We  heard  the 
machine  guns  playing  on  the  outer  wall, 
and  never  did  music  sound  so  sweet.  It 
was  like  the  bagpipes  of  Havelock's 
Highlanders  to  the  ears  of  the  besieged 
at  Lucknow.  The  ladies  were  wakened, 
and  soon  men  and  women  poured  out 
from  all  the  buildings  and  listened  with 
irrepressible  excitement  to  the  music  of 
the  guns.  Women  threw  themselves  on 
each  other's  necks  and  wept,  while  men 
grasped  hands  with  feelings  too  deep 
for  utterance. 

The  next  morning  the  great  gates  of 
the  legation  were  thrown  open,  and  in 
rode  a  company  of  Indian  cavalry.  They 
were,  I  thought,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
every  one  of  our  besieged  garrison 
thought  the  same,  the  finest  men  I  had 
ever  looked  upon. 

The  siege  was  ended.  The  rest  of 
the  army  entered  by  the  great  front  gate 
of  the  city,  the  key  of  which  had  bean 
captured  from  the  flying  enemy  by  Cap- 
tain Squires,  of  our  legation,  who  is  one 
of  the  heroes  of  the  siege.  The  next 
day  we  all  joined  in  singing  a  TeDeum 
in  the  tennis  court  of  the  legation,  and 
Dr.  Smith  in  a  short  address  pointed  out 
ten  circumstances  in  each  of  which  the 
finger  of  God  was  visible  in  our  deliver- 
ance. He  might  have  extended  them 
a  hundred.  After  thanking  God,  it 
only  remains  to  thank  our  noble  Presi- 
dent for  having  dispatched  the  army 
and  navy  to  our  succor  without  waiting 


EL  O 

a  •— ' 

ffi  ^ 

O 

3-  «° 

<D  r+ 

^  rt 

«  >->• 

o-  a 

U)  M 

<-»• 

T.  O 


g 

o 
8. 

n 


bo  < 

s  s 

S  -2 

r^  t 

CO  -H 


V-. 

O 


CJ 


SINGAN — THE    PRESENT   OHINESE   CAPITAL        63 


to  call  an  extra  session  of  Congress. 
I  feel  proud  of  my  country  for  the  rec- 
ord she  has  established  on  this  occa- 
sion, not  only  taking  her  place  among 
the  Great  Powers  who  have  interests  as 
wide  as  the  world,  but  showing  that  her 
arms  are  long  enough  to  protect  and 
rescue  her  people  in  all  parts  of  the 
globe. 

INDEMNITY  FOR  NATIVE  CHRISTIANS. 

The  curtain  has  not  yet  fallen  on  the 
last  scene  of  this  tremendous  drama. 
The  Empress  and  her  court  fled  the  city 
almost  at  the  moment  when  our  troops 
entered  it,  and  she  has  taken  refuge  at 
an  old  capital  in  one  of  the  northwestern 
provinces.  Whether  the  government 
will  be  reestablished  at  Pekin  is  highly 
problematical.  For  my  own  part,  I 
think  the  restoration  of  the  young  Em- 
peror, who  might  carry  out  his  progress- 
ive measures  under  the  supervision  of 
the  Great  Powers,  offers  the  best  solu- 
tion. The  integrity  of  the  empire  would 
then  be  maintained  and  possible  conflicts 
between  European  claimants  averted. 

China  must,  of  course,  pay  a  heavy  war 
indemnity.  It  is  understood  that  not 
only  the  foreign  nations,  but  individual 
foreigners,  will  be  indemnified  ;  but  no 
assurance  is  given  that  any  compensation 


will  be  made  to  native  Christians,  whose 
houses  have  been  burned  and  whose  re- 
lations have  been  slaughtered.  Diplo- 
matists and  military  men  have  joined  in 
acknowledging  that  but  for  the  bone  and 
muscle  supplied  by  those  native  Chris- 
tians, the  defense  of  the  legations  would 
have  been  impossible.  Though  they  per- 
formed the  humble  office  of  navvies  in 
building  barricades,  digging  trenches, 
and  countermining  against  the  enemy, 
their  services  were  indispensable  to  the 
common  safety. 

I  cannot  believe  that  any  Christian 
country  will  consent  to  the  gross  injus- 
tice which  is  involved  in  excluding  them 
from  the  provisions  of  the  indemnity 
clause. 

The  greatest  enemy  to  the  orderly 
and  profitable  intercourse  of  nations  is 
heathen  darkness.  No  restriction ,  there- 
fore, should  in  any  way  be  placed  on  the 
operations  of  missionary  bodies  who  seek 
to  dispel  that  darkness,  and  to  diffuse 
the  light  of  science  as  well  as  religion. 
Without  these  our  railway  and  mining 
enterprises  will  be  insecure,  and  we  can 
have  no  assurance  that  that  monster,  the 
dragon,  who  has  now  been  cast  down 
before  the  Soldiers  of  the  Cross,  will  not 
again  raise  his  head  and  bring  about 
another  catastrophe  similar  to  that  which 
has  so  lately  horrified  the  world. 


SINGAN-THE   PRESENT   CAPITAL  OF   THE 
CHINESE   EMPIRE 


SINGAN  owes  to  its  position  the  dis- 
tinction of   being  for   at  least  the 
fifth  time  the  capital  of  the  Chinese 
Empire.    The  mountain  valley  in  which 
it  is  situated  is  marked  out  by  nature 
to   be  the  center  "of   the  national  life. 
Through  it  flows  the  Weiho, along  whose 
banks  lies  the  great  road  which  leads 


from  northern  China  into  Central  Asia. 
Near  the  city  the  river  is  joined  by  a 
northern  tributary,  the  Kingho,  and 
then,  running  east,  it  breaks  through  the 
mountains  by  the  "gate  of  Tung-kuan," 
where  there  is  a  famous  fortress  of  the 
same  name.  This  gives  an  easy  access 
to  the  eastern  and  coast  provinces.  In 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC    MAGAZINE 


this  valley  also  are  the  only  practicable 
ju-^es,  two  in  number, over  the  Tsin-ling 
Mountains,  which  form  the  barrier  be- 
tween northern  and  central  China. 

In  consequence  of  these  unrivaled  ad- 
vantages, trade  routes  from  every  direc- 
tion have  converged  here  from  time 
immemorial  and  made  it  a  place  of  great 
commercial  importance,  famed  for  the 
enterprise  and  wealth  of  its  merchants. 
It  is  the  trade  center  from  whence  the 
silk  of  Chekiang,  the  tea  of  Honan  and 
Hupeh,  and  the  silk  and  sugar  of  Sze- 
chuan  are  distributed  to  the  markets  of 
Mongolia,  Turkestan,  and  Russia  in  ex- 
change for  rhubarb,  musk,  medicinal 
plants,  opium,  wool,  and  furs. 

The  valley  of  the  Weiho  is  one  of  the 
granaries  of  China,  and  the  city  itself  is 
in  the  midst  of  a  vast  wheat  field.  The 
traveler  approaching  from  the  east  passes 
through  a  country  "  like  one  continued 
splendid  park,  with  knolls  and  lawns  and 
winding  paths."  The  road  is  a  "fine 
highway — for  China,  with  a  ditch  on 
either  side,  rows  of  willow  trees  here  and 
there,  and  substantial  stone  bridges  and 
culverts  over  the  little  streams  which 
cross  it."  The  city  is  surrounded  by  a 
high  wall,  said  to  be  forty  miles  in  cir- 
cumference, with  four  huge  gates  flanked 
by  magnificent  towers.  The  principal 
streets  are  well  paved,  and  full  of  good 
shops,  together  with  palaces,  imposing 
temples,  and  government  buildings. 

One  of  the  few  European  travelers 
who  have  visited  Singan,  the  Rev.  A. 
Williamson,  says  that  it  appeared  to  be 
"densely  filled  with  houses,  having 
little  or  no  vacant  ground  or  gardens  as 
in  other  cities."  At  that  time,  1866,  it 
was  the  residence  of  a  Roman  Catholic 
bishop,  who  claimed  that  there  were 
about  20,000  Christians  in  his  diocese. 
Its  population  is  variously  estimated 
from  five  hundred  thousand  to  a  million 
souls.  Michaelis,  who  visited  it  in  1879, 
writes  of  the  courteous  treatment  which 
he  received  wherever  he  went  from  the 
crowds  which  thronged  the  streets. 


Though  Singan  contains  no  buildings 
of  great  antiquity — a  mosque  built  in 
the  ninth  century  is  probably  the  oldest 
structure — the  famous  Pei-lin,  or  "  For- 
est of  Tablets,"  is  the  most  valuable 
archseological  and  historical  museum  or 
library  in  China.  Here  are  tablets 
which  chronicle  events  of  five  dynasties 
from  B.  C.  100.  Others  are  apparently 
mere  specimens  of  elegant  calligraphy 
and  drawings  of  well-known  mountains 
and  historical  scenes.  There  are  also 
emblematical  animals,  sacred  birds,  and 
likenesses  of  their  great  men.  Among 
these  is  a  full-sized  portrait  of  Confu- 
cius and  several  of  his  disciples.  The 
most  celebrated  of  all  are  the  Thirteen 
Classics,  cut  in  stone,  dating  from  the 
Han  dynast}-,  far  anterior  to  those  in 
Pekin,  now  so  famous.  The  most  in- 
teresting monument  of  past  times  to  the 
Occidental  visitor,  however,  is  the  Xes- 
torian  tablet,  commemorating  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  into  China.  On 
it  is  an  inscription  in  Syriac  and  Chinese 
characters  giving  first  a  vague  abstract 
of  Christian  doctrine,  and  then  follows 
this  passage: 

"In  the  time  of  the  accomplished 
Emperor  Taitsung,  the  illustrious  and 
magnificent  founder  of  the  dynasty, 
among  the  enlightened  and  holy  men 
who  arrived  was  the  most  virtuous 
Olopun,  from  the  country  of  Syria.  Ob- 
serving the  azure  clouds,  he  bore  the 
true  sacred  books;  beholding  the  direc- 
tion of  the  winds,  he  braved  difficulties 
and  dangers.  In  the  year  A  D.  635  he 
arrived  at  Chang-an  ;  the  Emperor  sent 
his  Prime  Minister,  Duke  Fang  Hiuen- 
ling,  who,  carrying  the  official  staff  to 
the  west  border,  conducted  his  guest 
into  the  interior.  The  sacred  books  were 
translated  in  the  imperial  library,  the 
sovereign  investigated  the  subject  in  his 
private  apartments  ;  when,  becoming 
deeply  impressed  with  the  rectitude  and 
truth  of  the  religion,  he  gave  special 
orders  for  its  dissemination." 

The  imperial  proclamation,  which  is 


SINGAN — THE    PRESENT   CHINESE   CAPITAL        65 


given,  commends  the  principles  of  this 
new  religion  and  closes  with  these  com- 
mands: ' '  Let  it  be  published  throughout 
the  Empire,  and  let  the  proper  authority 
build  a  Syrian  church  in  the  capital  in 
the  I-ning  Way,  which  shall  be  gov- 
erned by  twenty-one  priests."  Then 
comes  a  summary  of  prominent  events 
connected  with  the  "  Illustrious  Relig- 
ion "  and  a  recapitulation  of  them  in  an 
ode  in  octosyllabic  verse.  At  the  end  is 
the  date  of  its  erection,  A.  D.  781,  "in 
the  second  year  of  Kiengchung,  of  the 
Tang  dynasty,  on  the  yth  day  of  the 
ist  month,  being  Sunday,"  and  the 
names,  possibly  of  donors,  of  sixty- 
seven  priests  in  Syriac  characters  and 
sixty-one  in  Chinese. 

The  tablet,  which  is  said  to  be  the  old- 
est Christian  inscription  yet  found  in 
Asia,  was  discovered  in  1625  and  is  now 
in  a  brick  inclosure  outside  the  city  walls 
amid  heaps  of  stones,  bricks,  and  rub- 
bish. Its  preservation  is  due,  strangely, 
to  the  care  of  a  Chinese,  as  an  inscrip- 
tion on  the  edge  of  the  stone  shows. 
It  is  to  the  effect  that,  in  1859,  a  man 
named  Han-tai-wha,  from  Wu-lin,  had 
come  to  visit  it,  and  had  found  the  char- 
acters and  ornamentation  perfect,  and 
that  he  had  rebuilt  the  brick  covering  in 
which  it  stood.  The  last  words  are: 
"Alas  !  that  my  friend  Woo-tze-mi  was 
not  with  me,  that  he  also  might  have  seen 
it.  On  this  account  I  am  very  sorry." 

The  tablet  is,  or  was — for  it  may  have 
been  destroyed  in  the  fanatical  hatred  of 
all  that  is  foreign  which  has  taken  pos- 
session of  the  people — a  striking  witness 
of  the  power  which  the  Christian  faith 
had  over  the  Chinese  a  thousand  years 
ago  and  in  the  nineteenth  century,  for 
this  restorer  and  his  friend  must  have 
been  native  Christians. 

It  is  remarkable  that  Singan  is  identi- 
fied with  the  greatest  men  whom  China 
has  produced  and  with  the  most  glori- 
ous epochs  of  Chinese  history.  This  is 
especially  true  of  the  time,  B.  C.  1122, 
when  it  was  first  made  the  capital  of 


the  Middle  Kingdom  by  Wu-wang,  the 
founder  of  the  Chau  dynasty. 

"No  period  of  ancient  Chinese  his- 
tory," says  Dr.  Wells  Williams,  "is 
more  celebrated  among  the  people  than 
that  of  the  founding  of  this  dynasty,  be- 
cause of  the  high  character  of  its  leading 
men,  who  were  regarded  by  Copernicus 
as  the  impersonation  of  everything  wise 
and  noble."  The  Emperor,  with  his 
father  and  brother,  ranked  ' '  among  the 
most  distinguished  men  of  antiquity  for 
their  erudition,  integrity,  patriotism,  and 
inventions."  It  was  then  known, and  for 
many  centuries  afterwards,  as  Changan, 
or  ' '  Perpetual  Peace  ' '  — a  name  still  pre- 
served as  that  of  one  of  the  quarters  of 
the  modern  city.  In  B.  C.  246  one  of  the 
greatest  rulers  China  ever  had  chose  it  for 
his  residence.  This  was  Chi  Hwangti, 
the  ' ' first  universal  emperor. ' '  Though 
a  boy  of  but  thirteen  years  of  age  when  he 
ascended  the  throne,  he  speedily  showed 
great  capacity  for  governing  and  as  a 
warrior.  To  improve  the  communica- 
tion between  his  capital  and  the  prov- 
inces he  constructed  magnificent  roads 
and  bridges,  some  of  which  remain  to 
the  present  day.  This  work  was  car- 
ried on  by  his  successor,  who  is  said  to 
have  spanned  the  valleys  of  the  neigh- 
boring mountains  with  suspension  or 
"flying"  bridges,  thus  anticipating 
western  science  by  twenty  centuries. 

But  the  "  universal  emperor's  "  fame 
as  conqueror  of  the  Tatars  and  the 
builder  of  these  public  works  and  the 
Great  Wall  is  eclipsed  by  his  unwise 
efforts  to  secure  certain  reforms.  He 
had  become  convinced  that  the  fanatical 
worship  of  the  past  which  characterized 
the  teaching  of  the  scholars  was  fatal  to 
progress  and  full  of  danger  to  the  state. 
He  determined  therefore  to  break  once 
and  for  all  with  the  past,  and  ordered 
that  all  books  having  reference  to  the 
past  history  of  the  Empire  should  be 
burned.  This  decree,  which  was  almost 
universally  obeyed,  and  with  consider- 
able loss  of  life,  apparently  but  strength- 


66 


THE    NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAC, A/INK 


ened  the  evil  against  which  he  was  striv- 
ing. It  is  a  significant  commentary  on 
his  act  that  in  the  Chinese  schools  of 
today  history  later  than  the  accession  of 
the  present  dynasty,  1643,  is  not  taught. 
The  literati,  it  may  be  added,  disregard- 
ing the  true  reason  of  his  decree,  at- 
tribute it  simply  to  his  vanity — the  hope 
' '  that  he  might  by  this  means  be  re- 
garded by  posterity  as  the  first  emperor 
of  the  Chinese  race." 

Nearly  nine  hundred  years  later  Sin- 
gan  is  again  made  the  capital  by  Tait- 
sung,  who  so  cordially  welcomed  the 
Nestorian  priest.  He  was  "  famed  alike 
for  his  wisdom  and  nobleness,  his  con- 
quests and  good  government,  his  tem- 
perance, cultivated  tastes,  and  patron- 
age of  literary  men.  He  established 
schools,  and  instituted  the  system  of 
examinations,  and  ordered  a  complete 
and  accurate  edition  of  all  the  classics 
to  be  published  under  the  supervision 
of  the  most  learned  men  in  the  Empire. ' ' 
It  is  probably  not  too  much  to  say  that 
during  his  reign  this  now  almost  un- 
known city  was  the  center  of  the  most 
advanced  civilization  that  existed  at 


that  time  on  the  earth.  Soon  after  his 
death  the  throne  was  usurped  for  twenty- 
one  years  by  a  woman,  who  bears,  a  re- 
markable resemblance  in  some  respects 
to  the  Dowager  Empress  who  now  exer- 
cises supreme  power  in  this  ancient  city. 

In  our  own  times  Singan  is  noted  for 
the  brave  and  successful  defense  of  its 
inhabitants  against  the  Mohammedan 
rebels  in  1865,  although  there  were  some 
50,000  of  their  coreligionists  within  the 
walls.  These  were  compelled  to  abjure 
their  faith  on  pain  of  death,  and  to  put 
up  in  their  mosques  inscriptions  to  the 
emperor  and  to  Confucius. 

The  situation  of  the  city,  over  six 
hundred  miles  from  the  coast,  and  its 
impregnability  to  any  force  that  it  is 
likely  could  be  brought  against  it  will 
probably  make  it  seem  for  the  interest 
of  the  present  rulers  of  China  that  it 
should  be  once  more  the  permanent 
capital  of  the  Empire.  From  its  his- 
tory in  the  past  we  may  hope  that  this 
will  be  the  presage  of  an  era  brighter 
for  the  Chinese  than  that  which  is  appar- 
ently closing. 

JAMEvS  MASCARENE  HUBBARD. 


THE    MIDNIGHT    SUN   IN   THE   KLONDIKE 


AFTER  the  long,  dark,  dreary  days 
of  winter,  summer  approaches  with 
marvelous  rapidity.  Before  the 
snow  has  all  disappeared  the  days  are 
twenty-four  hours  long,  and  there  is 
no  need  for  candles  or  lamps  during  the 
months  of  June  and  July  and  part  of  May. 
About  the  middle  of  June  photographs 
can  be  taken  quite  distinctl)'  at  midnight. 
Many,  fond  of  climbing,  like  to  mount 
the  highest  domes  and  watch  the  sun  at 
midnight.  If  the  night  is  clear,  they 
are  well  repaid  for  their  climb.  There 
is  a  strange,  weird  look  about  the  sun  at 
such  a  time — a  sort  of  tired  look,  as  if 
he  would  like  to  disappear  below  the 
horizon  for  a  little  rest,  and  then  mount 


in  the  morning  like  a  giant  refreshed. 

He  marches  steadily  on,  and  just  as 
we  think  he  will  descend  below  the 
skyline, he  gradually  turns  eastward  and 
heavenward  and  soon  begins  to  flood  the 
lesser  hills  with  light  and  warmth.  \Ve 
then  turn  homeward,  for  if  caught  too 
far  from  home  when  the  sun  has  re- 
gained height  and  power,  we  shall  feel 
in  no  mood  for  walking,  as  the  summer 
days  in  the  Klondike  are  fiercely  hot  and 
wearying. 

What  a  contrast  there  is  between  the 
dark,  sunless,  icy  days  of  winter  and  the 
bright,  glaring,  almost  unbearably  hot 
days  of  summer  ! 

ALICE  ROLLINS  CRANE. 


THE   NORTHERN   LIGHTS 


AFTER  an  intensely  dry,  cold  day 
I  have  watched  for  a  display  of  the 
Northern  Lights  and  have  been 
rewarded  by  seeing  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful displays  nature  can  afford. 

At  its  first  appearance  the  Aurora  is 
hardly  noticeable,  but  in  a  few  minutes 
the  bright,  luminous  cloudlet  enlarges 
and  rapidly  rushes  from  east  to  west  and 
from  west  to  east ,  across  the  northern  sky. 

Sometimes  the  phenomenon  will  dip 
down  almost  to  the  earth  and  envelop 
in  its  bright  folds  tree  tops  but  a  short 
distance  away.  Then  it  puts  one  in 
mind  of  a  rainbow  reaching  the  earth 
and  allowing  one  to  look  through  its 
iridescent  bars  to  the  hazy  landscape 
beyond . 

It  shines  steadily  for  a  while,  then 
suddenly,  as  though  a  gentle  breeze  were 
toying  with  its  beauty,  the  lambent  flame 
begins  to  quiver,  then  becomes  strongly 
agitated,  and  at  last  rushes  along  from 
side  to  side,  like  the  opening  and  shut- 
ting of  a  silvery  fan  or  the  wings  of  a 


swan  when  he  is  pluming  himself  on  the 
bank  of  a  stream. 

I  have  never  noticed  the  rainbow-like 
colors  depicted  in  some  paintings.  The 
light  was  more  like  steam  rising  at  night, 
brilliantly  illuminated  by  abeam  of  elec- 
tric light. 

Then  at  times  it  would  gradually  fade 
till  it  resembled  phosphorescent  waves 
barring  the  progress  of  a  ship. 

At  such  times  visitors  coming  into 
our  cabin  from  the  dry,  crisp  air  would 
pull  off  their  skin  mitts  amid  a  cack- 
ling of  electric  sparks  ;  our.  blankets 
and  fur  coats,  if  rubbed,  would  give  out 
a  succession  of  sparks,  and  our  hair 
would  try  to  stand  away  from  the  head 
Uke  quills  on  a  porcupine,  and  if  brushed 
would  snap  and  sparkle  very  distinctly, 
all  the  time  clinging  to  the  brush  or  to 
anything  placed  above  the  head.  I  have 
walked  to  the  stove  and  with  my  knuckle 
drawn  a  spark  from  the  metal  top  half 
an  inch  long.  j 

ALICE  ROLLINS  CRANE. 


JAPAN  AND   CHINA-SOME   COMPARISONS 

BY   COMMANDER   HARRIE  WEBSTER,  U.  S.  N. 


IN  many  respects  the  people  of  China 
and  Japan  are  not  comparable,  be- 
cause their  ethical,  racial,  and  eth- 
nological differences  are  so  marked  as  to 
make  comparison  misleading. 

But  the  wider  and  more  continued  the 
field  of  observation,  the  smaller  become 
the  differences  remarked.  The  observ- 
ant traveler  will  assert  that  the  China- 
man's eyes  are  as  horizontal  in  their 
major  axis  as  are  ours.  The  assertion 
is  quite  correct  !  The  slanting  effect  is 
caused  by  the  configuration  of  the  eye- 


brow, and  to  some  extent  by  the  tend- 
ency of  the  Chinaman  to  keep  the  eyes 
partly  closed,  due  to  the  absence  of  a 
projecting  visor  or  peak  in  their  head 
coverings.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  eye 
sockets  in  the  Chinese  skull  are  shaped 
and  arranged  practically  as  are  those  in 
the  Caucasian.  Examples  in  support  of 
the  position  here  assumed  might  be 
multiplied,  but  this,  the  most  striking, 
seems  sufficient  to  substantiate  the  con- 
tention. 

The  Japanese   hold   the   position   of 


7° 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


being  the  most  progressive  people  of 
which  history  gives  any  account,  and 
the  most  singular  fact  in  connection  with 
this  progress  is  that  its  genesis  was  spon- 
taneous, no  outside  influence  or  pressute 
being  brought  to  bear  to  effect  the  tre- 
mendous changes  in  the  governmental 
systein  and  methods. 

The  change  was  a  true  evolution,  and 
was  carried  out  with  practical  unanimity 
by  governors  and  governed  alike. 

A  point  seldom  or  never  noted  by 
travelers  or  writers  on  ethnological  sub- 
jects is  the  odor  possessed  by  the  various 
tribes  of  men,  and  for  want  of  a  better 
phrase  I  will  call  it  the  "  race  smell." 

The  race  smells  of  several  members  of 
the  human  family  are  distinct  enough  to 
influence  not  only  their  neighbors,  but 
the  domesticated  animals  of  other  races. 
Witness  the  race  smell  of  the  North 
American  Indian,  sufficiently  marked  to 
be  disagreeable  to  white  nostrils,  and  to 
be  a  source  of  alarm  to  our  horses  and 
dogs. 

From  observation  I  am  led  to  conclude 
that  the  accidents  of  clothing,  habits, 
and  environments  are  operative  upon  the 
race  smell  only  as  modifiers,  increasing 
or  decreasing  that  smell  according  to 
circumstances.  Witness  the  strong  race 
smell  of  the  Negro,  persisting  in  spite  of 
the  environments  of  ages  of  civilization. 

The  application  of  the  foregoing  to  the 
question  under  discussion  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  race  smell  of  the  Japanese  is 
so  slight  as  to  be  scarcely  recognizable, 
while  the  Chinaman  has  the  race  smell  so 
well  developed  as  to  be  distinctly  notice- 
able in  any  considerable  assemblage.  Its 
marked  feature  is  that  it  produces  a  dis- 
tinct tingling  in  the  end  of  the  nose  of 
the  European ,  and  once  experienced  will 
never  afterward  be  mistaken.  The  Chin- 
aman says  we  smell  like  sheep,  and  our 
race  smell  is  as  disagreeable  to  him  as 
his  is  to  us,  another  and  novel  applica- 
tion of  the  old  adage  of  "  de  gustibus  non 
est  disputandum. ' ' 

In  Japan  one  looks  in  vain  for  exam- 


ples of  bygone  architectural  ability,  for 
the  remains  of  bridges  or  monuments, 
roads  or  temples,  and  the  idea  impresses 
itself  upon  the  mind  of  the  observer  that 
Japan  is  a  new  country,  that  its  past  is 
but  of  yesterday  in  comparison  with 
China,  Korea,  or  India;  but  this  impres- 
sion is  speedily  forgotten  when  an  ex- 
amination of  the  literature,  laws,  lan- 
guage, and  art  discloses  the  fact  that 
Japan  counts  her  history  by  thousands 
of  years,  and  that  her  literature  contains 
examples  written  before  the  day  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  We  are  shown  pieces 
of  bronze-work  two  thousand  years  old. 
We  look  upon  an  emperor  who  is  the 
one  hundred  and  twenty-first  of  an  un- 
broken dynasty  which  was  founded  660 
B.  C.  ! 

We  are  impressed  with  the  national 
virility  which  can,  after  so  many  cen- 
turies of  existence,  voluntarily  modify 
its  system  of  government  into  sympathy 
with  the  ideas  of  today,  and  follow  up 
that  tremendous  change  by  adopting  the 
best  the  modern  world  has  to  offer  in 
every  branch  of  human  thought,  and 
adapting  itself  as  a  people  to  the  use  of 
all  those  ideas  which  form  the  difference 
between  the  universe  of  yesterday  and 
the  world  of  today.  Whether  their  at- 
tempts are  successful  is  not  pertinent  to 
the  subject,  for,  looking  at  the  intent  of 
the  Japanese  nation  as  exploited  by  her 
leading  men,  we  see  that,  modified,  it  is 
true,  by  the  environments  of  their  tradi- 
tions- and  history,  Japan  is  well  in  the 
forefront  of  the  family  of  modern  na- 
tions. 

In  China,  on  the  other  hand,  but  little 
of  interest  presents  itself  which  is  not 
a  monument  of  a  long-departed  glory. 
Splendid  bridges,  huge  gateways  fash- 
ioned in  stone,  canals,  bronzes,  remain 
uneqtialed  elsewhere  for  beauty  and  fit- 
ness of  design,  a  literature  stretching 
back  beyond  the  limits  of  any  written 
history  outside  of  this  huge  empire. 
China  is  of  the  past  ;  her  dreams  are  all 
reminiscent  ;  her  efforts  are  expended  in 


JAPAN   AND   CHINA 


preserving  what  has  been  created  rather 
than  in  producing  aught  of  credit  for 
the  present. 

It  must  be  conceded  that  the  signs  of 
past  ability  in  nearly  every  direction  of 
human  thought  and  labor  compare  favor- 
ably with  the  remains  of  any  nation  ; 
and  with  that  China  is  satisfied.  Pro- 
gress and  the  adaptation  of  the  mental 
powers  to  the  requirements  of  modern 
needs  find  no  favor  with  the  average 
Chinaman  ;  and  perhaps  it  is  in  some 
sense  fortunate  for  our  amour  prop  re  that 
it  is  so,  for  if  the  tremendous  mental 
acumen  and  brain  subtlety  possessed  by 
this  singular  and  very  gifted  race  were 
earnestly  applied  to  the  problems  of 
modern  life  it  is  extremely  doubtful  if 
the  intellectual  superiority  of  the  Cau- 
casian would  be  so  much  in  evidence  as 
appears  at  present. 

In  real  mental  power,  in  the  ability  to 
grasp  the  most  abstruse  conceptions,  I 
doubt  if  there  can  be  found  the  equal  of 
the  better  class  of  Chinese  scholar. 

The  native  of  Japan  and  his  yellow 
brother  of  China  have,  however,  a 
marked  characteristic  in  common,  and 
so  pervading  is  this  trait  and  so  impor- 
tant as  an  indication  of  remote  common 
origin  that  I  think  sufficient  stress  has 
not  been  laid  upon  it  by  ethnologists  and 
•observers.  I  refer  to  the  persistence  and 
infinite  patience  shown  in  carrying  out 
the  greatest  works  without  the  aid  of 
machinery — "infinite  repetition  of  in- 
dividual effort  "  in  all  branches  of  labor. 
In  the  minds  of  the  people  of  these  two 
nations  time  is  not  an  element  entering 
into  calculation,  and  the  cost  of  a  piece 
of  work  is  apparently  computed  with 
sole  reference  to  the  quantity  of  labor 
expended  without  taking  into  account 
the  time  as  such. 

The  native  of  Japan  is  willing  to  ad- 
mit that  he  is  not  the  aboriginal — that 
is,  that  he  displaced  a  preceding  race — 
and  in  doing  so  either  absorbed  or  de- 
stroyed that  race. 

Not  so  the  proud  and  haughty  subject 


of  the  Son  of  Heaven.  He  aspires  to  be 
first  in  everything,  and  in  consequence 
has  convinced  himself  that  his  race  is 
the  only  one  ever  inhabiting  the  land 
where  reigns  the  Celestial  Empire.  The 
Chinaman  contends  that  he  is  aboriginal, 
actually  to  the  manor  born,  and  that 
China  belongs  to  the  Chinese  because  no 
other  race  ever  occupied  the  soil. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  argument 
is  on  the  side  of  the  Chinaman,  for  no 
history  or  literature  contains  the  slight- 
est mention  of  his  predecessors.  The 
written  records  of  Japan  and  China  are 
daily  becoming  more  accessible  to  the 
western  scholar,  and,  notwithstanding 
the  disbelief  in  their  accuracy  and  value, 
these  ancient  documents  will  probably 
give  as  much  real  history  as  other  ancient 
records  of  nations  better  known  to  the 
scholastic  world. 

In  the  matter  of  domestic  architecture 
Japan  and  China  are  at  the  antipodes. 
Throughout  the  Mikado's  Empire  the 
people  inhabit  structures  of  wooden 
framework  surrounded  by  paper  walls, 
so  that  a  fierce  wind  will  often  blow 
the  sides  of  a  house  in  on  one  side  and 
out  on  the  other.  The  roofs  of  these 
slightly  built  houses  are,  however,  of 
strong  and  heavy  timbers,  bearing  a 
covering  of  earthen  tiles  or  thick  thatch- 
ing. The  frequent  and  widespread  con- 
flagrations in  Japanese  cities  are  not  re- 
garded as  inflictions  to  be  regretted;  on 
the  contrary,  the  huge  fires  which  some- 
times consume  hundreds  of  dwellings 
are  looked  upon  as  blessings,  their  clean- 
sing and  sanitary  effects  more  than  off- 
setting the  material  losses. 

The  almost  painful  cleanliness  in  a 
Japanese  house  is  a  never-ending  subject 
of  comment  by  foreigners,  and  the  heart- 
iness with  which  the  maids  of  all  work 
rub  and  scrub  and  deluge  with  water 
every  available  bit  of  wood-work  is  a 
real  revelation  of  the  innate  cleanliness 
of  the  "  little  brown  man  "  and  all  his 
belongings.  The  result  of  all  this  per- 
sistent cleaning  is  that  throughout  the 


72 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC 


Km  pi  re  not  an  evil  smell  nor  a  filthy 
spot  can  be  found.  The  vile  odors 
caused  by  the  collection  and  transporta- 
tion of  human  excreta  for  fertili/.er  are 
forcible  proof,  though  not  apparent  at 
first,  of  the  instinctive  spirit  of  cleanli- 
ness throughout  Japan. 

With  the  Chinaman  all  this  is  almost 
exactly  reversed.  A  Chinese  house  is 
built  in  the  most  substantial  manner — 
of  stone  or  tiles.  It  is,  in  fact,  accord- 
ing to  a  trite  proverb,  intended  to  last 
forever,  and  its  condition,  while  neat,  is 
not  especially  clean.  The  condition  of 
the  streets  in  a  Chinese  city  literally 
staggers  belief.  The  villainous  smells 
rising  from  the  nameless  filth  of  a  street 
in  a  populous  city  cannot  be  adequately 
described. 

Although  in  domestic  architecture 
these  two  peoples  are  so  diametrically 
different,  their  ecclesiastical  construc- 
tions are  strikingly  alike.  A  Buddhist 
temple  of  Japan  might  be  set  up  in  China 
and  little  difference  would  be  noted  in 
the  building  itself,  but  in  its  ornamenta- 
tion, exterior  and  interior,  especially  in 
the  images  and  figures,  a  marked  dissim- 
ilarity is  observable.  In  the  Chinese 
temple  there  is  a  certain  grotesqueness 
and  unreality  which  is  lacking  in  I  he 
Japanese  figures.  Not  only  is  this  true 
of  the  modeling  and  action,  but  in  color- 
ing the  difference  between  the  artistic 
sense  of  the  two  nations  is  very  striking. 
The  acute  observer  can  readily  assign 
to  a  colored  figure  its  correct  origin  by 
these  characteristics  of  the  two  nations 
whose  ecclesiastical  art  has  a  common 
genesis.  It  is  proper  to  note,  however, 
that  in  neither  example  do  these  artists 
of  the  Far  East  approach  in  any  degree 
the  western  standards. 

The  charitable  organizations  among 
the  dwellers  in  the  Celestial  Empire  are 
the  wonder  of  the  western  observer. 
The  altruism  born  of  countless  centuries 
of  civilization  finds  expression  in  charity 
as  comprehensive  in  its  methods  as  it  is 
universal  in  its  expression.  In  China 


there  is  scarcely  a  type  of  misery,  of 
poverty,  of  sickness,  of  distress,  with- 
out its  corresponding  charity  among  the 
more  fortunate  classes.  In  fact,  char- 
itable organizations  are  not  confined  to 
the  rich,  but  among  the  poor  themselves 
societies  flourish  atid  guilds  exist  for  the 
amelioration  of  the  condition  of  those 
occupying  the  social  strata  down  to  the 
very  bottom  in  the  scale  of  misery. 

The  indigent,  the  sick,  the  maimed, 
the  friendless,  the  blind,  the  beggar,  the 
laborer,  the  young,  the  old ,  the  living,  and 
the  dead — all  in  need  of  food,  clothing, 
medicines,  shelter,  assistance,  burial — 
are  the  objects  of  definite  charitable  so- 
cieties, whose  members,  while  constantly 
on  the  lookout  for  their  less  fortunate 
neighbors,  seldom  or  never  apply  for  as- 
sistance in  their  good  work  from  the  few 
non-members  of  some  guild  or  society. 
Not  only  are  the  distressed  and  sick  as- 
sisted, but  the  coolie,  the  laborer  on  the 
bund,  the  bearer  of  burdens,  is  the  object 
of  care  and  charity,  and  close  beside 
the  streets,  crowded  with  porters,  ' '  pole 
coolies,"  and  wheel  barrow  carriers,  huge 
earthenware  jars  of  tea  are  set  out,  fur- 
nished with  cups,  for  the  use  of  those 
who  have  no  season  of  rest  save  on  the 
completion  of  the  task  in  hand.  And 
it  is  a  pleasant  sight  to  see  the  smile 
with  which  a  well-dressed  Chinaman 
will  hand  a  cup  of  tea  to  his  ragged, 
sweating  brother,  burdened  almost  to 
exhaustion  and  parched  with  thirst.  In 
these  charities,  as  in  all  other  things,  the 
Chinaman  is  practical,  and  fine-spun 
theories  give  way  to  the  actualities  of 
every-day  life. 

In  practical  philanthropy  the  Japanese 
and  the  Chinaman  are  widely  separated, 
for  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  char- 
itable organizations  exist  and  flourish 
among  the  subjects  of  the  Mikado,  they 
are  neither  so  numerous  nor  so  far-reach- 
ing as  with  the  subjects  of  the  Son  of 
Heaven.  The  Japanese  altruism  deals 
rather  with  theory  than  with  facts  ;  so 
that  the  whole  difference  may  be  put 


JAPAN   AND    CHINA 


73 


in  a  nutshell  by  the  phrase,  "The 
Chinaman  does  much  and  says  little; 
the  Japanese  says  much  and  does  little." 
In  both  nations,  however,  the  poor  and 
crippled  possess  special  privileges  never 
interfered  with  by  their  more  fortunate 
neighbors.  It  is  said  that  robbery  from 
a  beggar  is  an  unknown  crime  in  either 
nation. 

The  "Potter's  Field"  has  no  exist- 
ence in  China.  The  guilds  for  the 
burial  of  the  dead  see  to  it  that  no  corpse 
is  unprovided  with  a  coffin  and  a  defi- 
nite burial  place.  During  my  stay  in 
Shanghai  a  terrible  accident  on  the 
Woosung  Bar  resulted  in  the  wreck  of 
the  steamer  On  Wo  and  the  drowning 
of  several  hundreds  of  coolies  embarked 
for  passage  up  the  Yangtze.  These 
men  were  of  the  very  poorest  class 
of  laborers,  and  as  their  bodies  were 
brought  to  the  banks  few  were  identi- 
fied by  friends  or  relatives  for  burial. 
Under  the  personal  supervision,  how- 
ever, of  a  local  mandarin,  the  member 
of  a  funeral  society,  every  unclaimed 
body  was  placed  in  a  decent  coffin  and 
properly  buried  after  the  Chinese  style  ' 

Among  the  Japanese  the  practice  of 
cremation  has  long  been  in  vogue,  and 
this  method  of  caring  for  the  dead  is 
adopted  for  the  safe  disposition  of  the 
remains  of  those  dying  without  friends 
or  money.  In  fact,  on  account  of  the 
ravages  made  by  cholera  at  intervals, 
the  crematorium  has  become  an  adjunct 
to  nearly  all  the  cemeteries  in  the  Em- 
pire. Among  both  peoples,  however, 
public  mendicancy  is  a  recognized  insti- 
tution, and  the  street  beggar  is  sure  of 
alms;  so  it  must  strike  the  thoughtful 
mind  that  our  western  civilization  does 
not  possess  a  monopoly  in  charity, 
either  organized  or  individual,  and  that 
altruism  is  the  property  of  the  human 
family  rather  than  of  any  particular 
branch  of  that  family.  These  far  east- 
ern eleemosynary  institutions  will  surely 
bear  comparison  with  any  mentioned  in 
history. 


In  the  eyes  of  the  Chinaman  the  sol- 
dier is  a  man  defiled  by  blood,  and  in 
the  social  scale  the  fighter  finds  a  place 
in  popular  estimation  with  the  butcher, 
the  tanner,  and  the  preparer  of  the  dead 
for  burial.  It  follows  from  this  that 
the  dependence  of  the  Empire  for  its 
defense  is  now  and  has  been  for  many 
centuries  the  arts  of  the  diplomat  rather 
than  the  generalship  of  the  soldier.  Not- 
withstanding this  condition,  however, 
the  Chinese  have  in  the  course  of  their 
long  national  history  done  some  good 
fighting  on  various  occasions  and  for 
various  reasons,  and  it  is  not  putting  the 
case  too  strongly  to  assert  that  in  the  fu- 
ture the  Chinese  will  give  a  good  account 
of  themselves  on  the  field  of  battle  in  de- 
fense of  their  country,  their  Emperor, 
and  of  their  national  existence. 

Passing  now  to  the  Japanese  side,  we 
see  a  nation  so  filled  with  patriotism,  so 
earnest  in  defense  of  national  honor, 
and  so  proud  of  their  country,  that  from 
the  earliest  times  they  have  been  a  fight- 
ing people.  Altruism,  as  applied  to  a 
common  enemy,  has  found  no  place  in 
Japanese  ethics,  and  today,  having 
adopted  the  so-called  western  methods 
of  warfare  afloat  and  ashore,  Dai  Nippon 
is  competent  and  willing  to  hold  its  own 
in  any  attack  from  any  direction.  The 
fighting  man — the  soldier — of  Japan,  in 
public  estimation, stands  head  and  shoul- 
ders above  his  fellows,  and  the  dearest 
wish  of  the  father  of  boys  is  that  his 
sons  may  be  accepted  for  the  service  of 
the  Mikado.  In  all  the  wars  of  Japan 
the  government  has  suffered  a  true  em- 
barrassment of  riches  in  the  matter  of 
personnel,  every  man  of  the  Empire 
tendering  his  services  in  the  field  for 
the  common  good. 

Passing  from  the  general  to  the  par- 
ticular, from  the  nation  to  the  individ- 
ual, it  is  interesting  to  note  a  few  of  the 
more  common  or  ordinary  differences  in 
the  two  nations.  The  Chinaman,  in  a 
general  way,  is  a  fat  and  robust  man; 
he  shows  the  influence  of  prosperity  by 


74 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


an  increase  in  girth  ;  his  walk  becomes 
stately  ;  his  expression  benignant  and 
kindly.  He  enjoys  rich  food  and  a  good 
deal  of  it.  The  Chinaman  of  wealth  and 
position  clothes  himself  literally  in  pur- 
ple and  fine  linen,  and  shows  in  every 
action  an  appreciation  of  the  good  things 
of  this  life. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Japanese,  rich 
or  poor,  lives  sparingly,  eats  plain  food, 
and  even  with  -this  limitation  is  gen- 
uinely abstemious  in  quantity.  He  is 
content  with  comfort  without  luxury, 
and  from  end  to  end  of  the  Mikado's 
Empire  it  is  difficult  to  find  a  fat  man  or 
woman. 

The  question  is  often  asked  why  the 
punishments  inflicted  in  these  eastern 
countries  are  so  barbarous  and  cruel. 

With  the  Chinese,  as  with  us,  in  the- 
ory, the  two  points  kept  in  view  in  the 
application  of  law  to  the  criminal  are  : 
first,  to  make  the  punishment  fit  the 
crime  ;  second,  to  make  a  deterrent  ex- 
ample for  those  who,  without  the  fear 
of  consequences,  would  tend  to  the  com- 
mission of  crime.  It  must  be  acknowl- 
edged that  on  both  these  points  the 
Chinese  methods  are  typical,  and  if  the 
criticism  is  made  that  many  punish- 
ments are  inflicted  out  of  all  proportion 
to  the  offense,  it  is  wise  to  remember 
episodes  in  our  criminal  history  when 
witches  were  hung,  burned,  and  done  to 
death  in  various  cruel  ways.  We  can 
remember  when  the  theft  of  a  loaf  of 
bread  in  England  sent  the  victim  across 
seas  a  transport  for  life.  Even  in  our 
own  enlightened  land  it  has  frequently 
happened  that  the  theft  of  a  horse  meant 
death  to  the  culprit.  So  it  may  be  wise 
not  to  criticise  the  Chinaman  too  harshly 
for  trying  to  punish  the  criminal  and  in- 
still terror  in  the  evil-doer  at  the  same 
time. 

In  all  literature  on  China  and  Japan 
the  subject  of  morality,  and  especially 
what  may  be  called  sexual  morality,  oc- 
cupies a  due  proportion  of  space,  and  its 
discussion  is  of  great  interest,  but  a  clear 


understanding  of  the  subject  requires  a 
more  careful  study  pf  morality  in  the  ab- 
stract than  most  writers  can  bestow. 

In  this,  as  in  many  other  important 
questions,  much  depends  upon  the  point 
of  view,  and  it  is  very  difficult  indeed  to 
make  a  correct  and  comprehensible  pre- 
sentation of  the  point  of  view  of  the 
Asiatic  upon  such  a  vital  subject  as 
sexual  morality.  Generalisation  based 
upon  incomplete  knowledge  is  mislead- 
ing and  dangerous,  and  in  connection 
with  this  question  rests  the  real  status 
of  woman  in  China  and  Japan,  a  sub- 
ject much  too  intricate  to  be  presented 
in  the  pages  of  this  Magazine. 

Perhaps  in  no  single  direction  do  the 
Chinese  differ  more  from  their  Japanese 
neighbors  than  in  the  official  position  of 
woman.  In  China  a  man's  wife  is  of 
little  moment  in  the  public  or,  more 
properly ,  the  outdoor  life  of  her  husband. 
She  seldom  appears  on  the  street,  she 
has  no  male  visitors  presented  to  her, 
and  so  far  is  this  effacement  carried  that 
to  inquire  after  a  wife  is  regarded  as  near 
akin  to  an  insult  to  the  husband. 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  is  as- 
serted by  old  residents  in  China  that  in 
matters  of  family  economy,  finance, 
politics,  and  the  conduct  of  affairs  the 
woman  of  the  house  has  a  wide  range 
of  influence,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
female  education  is  not  recognized  as 
existent,  a  wife  generally  manages  to 
have  her  say  in  matters  of  interest  con- 
nected with  the  family. 

In  Japan,  women,  girls,  and  children 
are  very  much  in  evidence,  and  the  con- 
sideration with  which  women  are  treated, 
the  respect  shown  them  in  public  and 
private,  and  the  freedom  enjoyed  by 
the  women  of  this  remarkable  country 
are  in  marked  contrast  with  the  practice 
in  all  other  eastern  lands. 

Woman  in  Dai  Nippon  enjoys,  so  far 
as  can  be  understood  by  observation  and 
inquiry,  precisely  the  same  status  as  her 
brother ;  has  the  same  freedom  from 
social  restraints,  has  the  same  "  right 


•a 

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GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


77 


of  way,"  and  works  just  as  diligently 
in  the  field  and  in  the  workshop,  and, 
what  is  more  to  the  point,  for  equal  work 
%ets  equal  pay  !  This  freedom  enjoyed 
by  women  in  Japan  is  not  of  recent 
growth.  It  is  not  the  outcome  of  the 
emergence  of  the  nation  from  aristocratic 
feudalism  into  the  light  and  practices  of 
modern  politics  and  government,  but  has 
always  existed,  and  is  as  much  a  matter 
of  course  as  is  the  contrary  in  China. 


The  contrasts  and  comparisons  made 
in  the  course  of  this  paper  are  especially 
interesting  when  the  histories  of  these 
two  peoples  are  compared,  for  it  would 
seem  certain  that  the  remote  ^origins  of 
the  Japanese  and  the  Chinese  were  far 
apart,  the  doctrine  of  modifications  pro- 
duced by  environment  being  inadequate 
to  account  for  the  brain-fiber  differences 
now  existing  between  these  two  most  in- 
teresting historical  entities. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES. 


THE  RUSSIAN  ANNEXATION 
OF  MANCHURIA. 

BY  the  agreement  concluded  between 
China  and  Russia  in  December,  the 
latter  will  exercise  a  protectorate  over 
Manchuria  in  the  same  sense  that  the 
British  maintain  a  protectorate  of  India. 
The  400,000  square  miles  of  this  prov- 
ince may  thus  be  added  to  the  dominions 
of  the  Russian  Empire. 

The  conditions  on  which  Russia  con- 
sents to  allow  the  Chinese  officials  to 
resume  the  civil  government,  which  was 
taken  from  them  last  summer,  are  as 
follows  (this  agreement  thus  far  applies 
only  to  Shengking,  the  southern  and 
most  important  province  of  Manchuria, 
but  it  will  be  extended  to  include  the 
other  two  provinces  of  Manchuria)  : 

"(O  The  Tatar  General  Tseng  un- 
dertakes to  protect  the  province  and 
pacify  it,  and  to  assist  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  railroad. 

(2)  He  must  treat  kindly  the  Rus- 
sians in  military  occupation,  protecting 
the  railway  and  pacifying  the  province, 
and    provide   them   with    lodging  and 
provisions. 

(3)  He  must  disarm  and  disband  the 
Chinese  soldiery,  delivering  in  their  en- 
tirety to  the  Russian  military  officials  all 


munitions  of  war  in  the  arsenals  not  al- 
ready occupied  by  the  Russians. 

(4)  All  forts  and  defenses  in  Sheng- 
king not  occupied  by  the  Russians,  and 
all  powder  magazines  not  required  by 
the  Russians,  must  be  dismantled  in  the 
presence  of  Russian  officials. 

(5)  Niuchvvang  and  other  places  now 
occupied  by  the  Russians  shall  be  re- 
stored to  the  Chinese  civil  administra- 
tion when  the  Russian  Government  is 
satisfied  that  the  pacification  of  the  prov- 
ince is  complete. 

(6)  The  Chinese  shall  maintain  law 
and   order   by    local  police    under   the 
Tatar  general. 

(7)  A  Russian  political  Resident,  with 
general  powers  of  control,  shall  be  sta- 
tioned at  Mukden,  to  whom  the  Tatar 
general  must  give  all  information   re- 
specting any  important  measure. 

(8)  Should  the  local  police  be  insuffi- 
cient in  any  emergency,  the  Tatar  gen- 
eral will  communicate  with  the  Russian 
Resident  at  Mukden  and  invite  Russia 
to  despatch  reinforcements. 

(9)  The  Russian  text  shall  be  the 
standard." 

The  ' '  Boxer ' '  movement  was  scarcely 
noticeable  in  Manchuria,  and  what  little 
there  was  of  it  was  easily  suppressed  by 
the  more  sensible  of  the  provincial  Chi- 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


nese  officials;  but  the  Chinese  soldiery 
rivaled  the  Boxers  of  Pekin.  Hun- 
dreds of  miles  of  the  railway  were  torn 
up  in  a  single  week  by  Chinese  regular 
troops  under  the  direction  of  local  mili- 
tary commanders.  This  destruction  has 
not  yet  been  repaired. 

It  is  stated  on  good  authority  that 
Russia  hastodayin  Manchuria, andalong 
the  frontier  of  this  province,  3,900  offi- 
cers and  173,000  men,  with  340  guns. 
In  addition,  between  35,000  and  40,000 
men  will  be  despatched  by  sea  to  rein- 
force this  large  army,  and  many  thou- 
sands more  will  proceed  to  the  Far  East 
over  the  Trans-Siberian  road. 


THE  POWERS  IN  CONTROL  IN 
CHINA. 

DURING  the  second  week  of  Jan- 
uary, Russia  turned  over  to  Ger- 
many the  Shanhaikwan  Railway,  which 
runs  from  Tientsin  to  Niuchwang.  This 
road  was  built  by  British  capital,  but 
as  it  commands  the  route  from  Man- 
churia to  Pekin,  Russia  seixed  it  early 
last  summer,  and  has  operated  it  dur- 
ing the  past  months.  On  the  arrival 
of  Commander  von  Waldersee  the  pro- 
test of  the  British  bondholders  was  sub- 
mitted to  him,  but  he  decided  against 
them  and  the  British  acquiesced  in  the 
decision.  It  is  stated  that  von  Wal- 
dersee will  now  hand  the  road  over  to 
its  rightful  owners,  or  at  least  what 
is  left  of  the  road,  for  Russia,  it  is  under- 
stood, has  succeeded  in  obtaining  the 
following  concessions  :  ( t )  That  Russia 
shall  retain  half  the  rolling  stock  of  the 
entire  railway  for  the  section  from  Shan- 
haikwan to  Niuchwang  outside  the 
Great  Wall,  which  is  also  in  Russian 
occupation  ;  (2)  that  Russia  shall  hold 
a  lien  on  the  railway  within  the  wall 
for  the  expenses  incurred  in  repairs, 
although  made  with  railway  property, 
and  in  transport  operations  during  the 
Russian  occupation  ;  (3)  that  Russia 


shall  appropriate  the  important  work- 
shops at  Shanhaikwan  with  all  their 
contents. 


BRITISH  PACIFIC  CABLE. 


recently  awarded  contract  for 
_L  the  laying  of  the  British  Pacific 
cable  from  Vancouver  to  Australia  via 
Fanning  Island  and  Fiji,  specifies  that 
the  line  shall  be  laid  by  July  31,  1902, 
so  that  in  eighteen  months  at  the  most 
the  world  will  be  belted  by  a  complete 
cable  system.  Nine  and  one-half  mil- 
lion dollars  will  be  paid  for  the  making 
and  laying  of  the  cable,  which  will  meas- 
ure, including  slack,  about  8,000  nautical 
miles. 

Great  Britain  and  Canada  have  agreed 
to  defray  five-ninths  of  this  sum,  New 
Zealand  one-eighth,  and  Xew  South 
Wales,  Queensland,  and  Victoria  have 
pledged  to  contribute  the  balance  be- 
tween them.  It  is  proposed  to  charge  49 
cents  a  word  for  messages  to  the  United 
States  and  25  cents  additional  for  mes- 
sages to  Europe. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF 
SIBERIA. 

H  AT  well-worn  phrase, ' '  The  world 
_  of  empire  westward  wends  its  way, ' ' 
is  destined  to  be  contradicted  by  the 
growth  of  Russia  during  the  present 
century.  One  hundred  years  from  now 
it  is  almost  safe  to  predict  the  center  of 
the  Russian  Empire  in  influence  and 
enterprise,  if  not  in  population,  will  be 
east  of  the  Ural  Mountains. 

The  great  tide  of  emigration,  enter- 
prise, and  pluck  that  is  following  the 
iron  rails  of  the  trans-Siberian  Railroad 
eastward  are  strikingly  shown  in  a  recent 
official  publication  of  the  Russian  Gov- 
ernment. 

Siberia  is  roughly  divided  into  two 
zones,  separated  by  a  broad  belt  of  virgin 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


79 


forest.  The  northern  zone,  cold  and 
barren,  stretches  in  an  almost  unbroken 
tundra  to  the  polar  regions.  The  south- 
ern zone 'is  rich  in  those  climatic  and 
natural  conditions  that  favor  industry 
and  perseverance,  and  it  is  this  zone 
that  the  railway  traverses. 

During  the  two  decades,  1860—1880, 
1 10,000  people  emigrated  to  Siberia  ; 
during  the  next  15  years  this  number 
had  increased  to  680,000,  while  during 
the  last  five  years  more  than  1,200,000 
persons,  the  majority  sturdy  Russian 
peasants,  have  settled  there.  The  present 
population  of  Siberia  is  about  9,000,000. 

So  great  has  been  the  rush  of  traffic 
since  the  line  was  first  opened  in  1899 
that  the  equipment  has  failed  to  equal 
the  demands  upon  it. 

Of  the  exports  from  Siberia  corn,  sent 
to  the  European  markets,  forms  nearly 
one  half.  Next  come  meat,  butter 
( which  is  shipped  in  special  refrigerator 
cars  to  London),  tallow,  hides,  wool, 
eggs,  and  game.  The  chief  imports  are 
iron  and  ironware,  sugar,  cottons  and 
woolens,  machinery,  and  petroleum. 

Even  today,  when  the  last  stages  of 
the  Siberian  road  are  not  completed,  the 
journey  from  London  to  Vladivostok  by 
railway  takes  only  a  little  more  than 
half  as  many  days,  24  to  42,  as  the  jour- 
ney by  the  Suez  Canal.  The  easiest 
route  between  the  two  oceans  is  Havre, 
Paris,  Cologne,  Berlin,  Warsaw,  Mos- 
cow, Samara,  Omsk,  Tomsk,  Irkutsk, 
Vladivostok  —  7,500  miles.  Of  this, 
6, 400  miles,  or  six-sevenths  of  the  whole 
trip,  fall  to  Russian  railways — 4,100  to 
the  Siberian  main  line  and  2,300  to  the 
European-Russian  system,  700  to  Ger- 
man, 100  to  Belgian,  and  300  to  French 
lines. 

The  traveler  can  reach  Shanghai  from 
London  or  Paris,  when  the  main  trunk 
line  is  completed,  in  16  days,  and  will 
have  to  pay  $160  for  his  first-class  sleep- 
ing-car express  ticket,  instead  of  being 
42  days  on  the  route  and  paying  $450 
for  the  journey. 


The  total  cost  of  the  Siberian  road 
to  date,  constructed  as  it  has  been  by 
Russians  with  Russian  money,  with  all 
branches  and  auxiliary  undertakings, 
including  vessels  and  ports,  is  $385,- 
000,000.  In  regard  to  this  enormous 
cost  the  official  report  states: 

' '  However  large  the  total  may  be,  it 
is  insignificant  in  comparison  with  the 
advantages  held  out  to  Russia  by  the 
exploitation  of  the  shortest  railway  route 
between  the  Atlantic  and  the  "Pacific,  in 
conjunction  with  the  stimulation  of  the 
rich  productive  powers  of  a  vast  country 
like  Siberia  and  the  development  of  Rus- 
sia's commercial  intercourse  with  the 
countries  of  eastern  Asia." 


HON.  (X  P.  AUSTIN. 

MR.  AUSTIN'S  paper  on  a  floating 
exposition,  which  is  printed  in  the 
opening  pages  of  the  present  number, 
was  read  by  him  before  the  National 
Board  of  Trade  on  January  24,  at  the 
special  request  of  that  body .  The  propo- 
sition, although  a  novel  one,  was  re- 
ceived with  such  favorable  consideration 
that  a  special  committee,  consisting  of 
the  leading  officers  of  the  National 
Board  of  Trade,  the  Philadelphia  Mu- 
seums, the  National  Manufacturers' 
Association,  and  the  United  States  Ex- 
port Association,  was  at  once  appointed 
to  consider  its  feasibility,  and,  if  found 
practicable,  to  formulate  plans  for  a 
proper  organization  to  put  it  into  opera- 
tion. 

Mr.  Austin  has  been  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics  since  the  spring  of 
1898,  and  during  that  time  has  prepared 
and  published  officially  a  large  number 
of  works  on  topics  of  current  interest, 
including  "  Commercial  China  in  1899," 
"Commercial  Japan,"  "Commercial 
South  America,"  "Commercial  Africa," 
"Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Hawai- 
ian, Philippine,  and  Samoan  Islands," 
' '  Russia  and  the  Trans-Siberian  Rail- 


8o 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


way,"  "The  Colonial  Systems  of  the 
World,"  "Submarine  and  Land  Tele- 
graphs of  the  World,"  etc.,  etc. 

His  earlier  literary  work  prior  to  his 
entrance  upon  official  life  consists  of  a 
series  of  books  on  national  affairs  es- 
pecially intended  for  the  instruction  of 
youth,  including  "Uncle  Sam's  Se- 


crets,"  "  Uncle  Sam's  Soldiers,"  while 
others  of  the  series  are  still  in  prepara- 
tion. 

Mr.  Austin  is  a  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Geographic  Society,  and  as  such 
his  recent  contributions  to  geographic 
and  commercial  information  have  been 
very  favorably  received  and  highly  com- 
mended. 


CUBA  AND  PORTO  RICO. 

THE  U.  S.  War  Department  has  re- 
cently published  two  volumes  con- 
taining the  results  of  the  census  of  Cuba 
and  Porto  Rico,  taken  in  the  fall  of  1899 
under  the  direction  of  military  officers. 


The  volumes  are  indispensable  to  those 
who  wish  to  obtain  an  accurate  under- 
standing of  the  present  condition  of  these 
people. 

The  facts  presented  in  the  reports  were 
gathered  in  all  cases  by  the  people  them- 
selves, as  the  most  intelligent  of  the 
better  classes  were  induced  to  compete 
for  positions  as  census-takers  by  the  rela- 
tively handsome  salaries  offered  by  the 
U.  S.  Government.  The  facts  thus 
gathered  were  classified  under  the  di- 
rection of  Messrs.  Henry  Gannett  and 
Walter  F.  Wilcox,  statistical  experts. 

These  handsomely  gotten  up  vol- 
umes, containing  many  good  illustra- 
tions, charts,  and  diagrams  which  em- 
phasize the  figures,  can  be  obtained 
gratis  on  application  to  the  War  De- 
partment. Extracts  from  these  reports, 
taken  from  advance  sheets,  have  ap- 
peared from  time  to  time  in  this  Maga- 
zine, but  some  further  notice  may  be  of 
interest. 

Porto  Rico  has  only  one-third  of  its 
population  engaged  in  gainful  occupa- 
tions, while  in  Cuba  the  proportion  is 
about  two-fifths,  and  in  the  United  States 
it  is  about  midway  between  these  two. 
It  appears  that  the  relative  number  of 
breadwinners  is  greater  in  cities  than 
in  rural  districts.  In  Porto  Rico  a  rela- 
tively larger  proportion  of  women  work 
for  a  livelihood  than  in  Cuba,  although 
the  proportion  is  decidedly  less  than  in 
the  United  States. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  kinds  of 
occupation  most  popular  in  the  islands. 
In  Porto  Rico  sixty-nine  in  every  100 
working  persons  labor  on  farms,  planta- 
tions, in  mines,  or  are  engaged  in  fishing. 
In  Cuba  48  in  every  100,  while  in  the 
United  States  only  39  are  so  engaged. 
In  the  manufacturing  and  mechanical 
industries,  however,  these  proportions 
are  reversed  ;  in  Porto  Rico  8  in  every 
100,  in  Cuba  15,  and  in  the  United 
States  22  earn  their  living  by  trans- 
forming raw  material  into  new  forms. 


GEOGRAPHIC 


81 


THE  ATLANTIC  WEATHER 
SERVICE. 

PROF.  ALFRED  J.  HENRY,  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  Chief  of  the 
Weather  Bureau,  has  established  dur- 
ing the  last  month  a  meteorological  sta- 
tion at  Hamilton,  Bermuda.  This  sta- 
tion was  needed  to  complete  the  chain 
of  outposts  planted  at  strategic  points 
extending  from  the  Lesser  Antilles  west- 
ward and  northwestward  to  the  British 
possessions.  Bermuda  is  in  the  track 
of  atmospheric  disturbances  which  pass 
northeastward  from  the  Florida  coast, 
and  which  occasionally  curve  northwest- 
ward, striking  the  southern  coast  of  New 
England.  From  this  vantage  point  it 
will  also  be  possible  to  forecast  with 
greater  accuracy  the  tracks,  of  storms 
which  occasionally  develop  great  inten- 
sity in  the  Atlantic  off  the  coast  of  the 
Carolinas. 

Arrangements  have  also  been  made 
by  the  Weather  Bureau  for  a  daily  cable- 
gram from  the  Azores,  giving  the  mete- 
orological conditions  in  that  part  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  also  for  a  daily  cablegram 
from  London,  summarizing  the  condi- 
tions west  of  Spain,  France,  and  Ire- 
land. As  the  forecasters  of  the  Weather 
Bureau  can  now  determine  what  condi- 
tions storms  proceeding  from  the  United 
States  will  meet,  they  are  able  to  pre- 
dict with  considerable  certainty  the  di- 
rection such  storms  are  likely  to  pursue. 

The  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau  has  al- 
ready begun  issuing  to  the  captains  of 
the  trans-Atlantic  liners  predictions  of 
the  weather  for  three  days  out  of  New 
York. 

The  advance  made  in  our  knowledge 
of  the  laws  governing  meteorological 
conditions,  and  especially  in  the  prac- 
tical application  of  these  laws  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  mariner  and  the  farmer, 
has  been  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
recent  developments  of  science.  Prof. 
Willis  L.  Moore,  Chief  of  the  U.  S. 
Weather  Bureau,  believes  that  the  time 


may  come  when  scientists  will  so  thor- 
oughly understand  these  laws  that  they 
can  with  certainty  forecast  the  seasons. 


THE  U.  S.  WEATHER  BUREAU  AT 
THE  PARIS  EXPOSITION. 


United  States  Weather  Bureau 
_  exhibit  was  installed  during  the 
month  of  April  and  opened  to  visitors 
for  inspection  in  completed  condition 
May  15.  The  building  remained  open 
and  the  exhibit  accessible  to  visitors 
ever)7  day,  except  Sundays,  from  9  a.  m. 
to  6  p.  m.,from  May  15  to  September  30, 
and  from  9  a.  m.  to  5.30  p.  m.  during 
the  month  of  October.  It  was  necessary 
to  close  a  half  hour  earlier  during  the 
month  of  October  on  account  of  dark- 
ness, there  being  no  way  of  lighting  the 
building  artificially. 

The  exhibit  was  visited  by  many  thou- 
sands of  people,  among  whom  were 
meteorologists  and  those  interested  in 
related  sciences  from  all  parts  of  the  civ- 
ilized world.  The  cloud  photographs, 
the  method  of  making  weather  forecasts, 
and  the  kite  and  aerial  apparatus  at- 
tracted special  attention. 

Many  interested  in  aeronautics  and 
air  explorations  examined  the  kite  ex- 
hibit in  detail,  taking  photographs  and 
measurements  of  the  kite,  instruments, 
and  apparatus.  Notably  among  these 
were  a  number  of  officers  of  the  German, 
French,  Italian,  and  Japanese  armies 
and  navies. 

During  the  meeting  of  the  Interna- 
tional Meteorological  Congress,  which 
brought  to  Paris  representative  mete- 
orologists from  nearly  all  parts  of  the* 
world,  a  special  invitation  was  extended 
to  its  delegates  and  members  to  visit  and 
inspect  the  Weather  Bureau  exhibit. 
This  invitation  was  accepted,  and  there- 
fore the  exhibit  brought  the  methods, 
instruments,  etc.,  of  the  United  States 
Weather  Bureau  to  the  attention  of  those 
most  interested  in  meteorological  work. 


82 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC    MAGA/INK 


It  was  the  special  effort  of  those  con- 
nected with  the  exhibit  to  explain  and 
set  forth  in  the  strongest  and  clearest 
light  possible  the  aims  and  methods  of 
the  United  States  Weather  Bureau  and 
its  practicability  and  great  economic 
value  to  the  people  of  the  United  States 
and  of  North  America.  Special  stress 
was  given  to  the  great  importance  and 
the  value  of  its  weather  forecasts  and 
warnings. 

As  a  result  of  the  visit  of  the  Jury  of 
Awards  and  their  critical  examination, 
the  United  States  Weather  Bureau  was 
awarded  a  Grand  Prix.  Gold  medals 
were  awarded  to  two  officials  of  the 
Weather  Bureau,  Prof.  C.  F.  Marvin 
for  instruments,  apparatus,  and  appli- 
ances, and  to  Prof.  A.  J.  Henry  for 
cloud  photographs. 


THE  LOSS  OF  PROPERTY  FROM 
LIGHTNING. 

IN  1898  systematic  efforts  were  made 
by  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau 
to  ascertain  the  frequency  of  damaging 
or  destructive  lightning  strokes  through- 
out the  United  States.  The  results  of 
the  first  year's  work  were  published  in 
Weather  Bureau  Bulletin  No.  26,  Light- 
ning and  Electricity  of  the  Air,  and  also 
separately  as  Weather  Bureau  Bulletin 
No.  199,  Property  Loss  by  Lightning, 
1898.  The  collection  of  statistics  bear- 
ing upon  the  lossnf  and  damage  to  prop- 
erty was  continued  during  1899. 

The  total  number  of  reports  received 
of  buildings  struck  and  damaged  or  de- 
stroyed by  lightning  during  the  calen- 
dar year  1899  was  .s,527,  about  three 
times  as  many  as  were  received  during 
the  previous  year.  In  addition  to  this 
number,  729  buildings  caught  fire  as  a 
result  of  exposure  to  other  buildings 
that  had  been  set  on  fire  by  lightning. 

The  great  majority  of  buildings  struck 
by  lightning  were  not  provided  with 
lightning  rods.  A  conservative  esti- 
mate by  Prof.  A.  J.  Henry  of  the  total 


loss  by  lightning  during  the  year  would 
probably  be  $6,000,000.  One-half  of 
the  buildings  struck  were  barns,  sheds, 
warehouses,  etc.,  and  about  7  percent 
chur-  hes  and  schools  ;  cattle,  horses, 
mules,  and  pigs  were  killed  by  light- 
ning to  the  value  of  about  $129,955. 


POLAR  WORK. 

PLANS  for  the  Baldwin-Ziegler 
North  Polar  Expedition  are  matur- 
ing rapidly,  for,  unlike  the  majority  of 
Arctic  leaders,  Mr.  Baldwin  is  not  ham- 
pered for  want  of  funds.  Mr.  Ziegler, 
the  multimillionaire  behind  the  enter- 
prise, has  expressed  a  willingness  to  pay 
all  expenses  under  one  million  dollars. 
Half  a  million  was  the  cost  of  the  Ital- 
ian expedition  of  last  year,  and  it  was 
to  the  complete  equipment  that  was  thus 
possible  that  the  Duke  of  Abruzzi  par- 
tially owed  his  success. 

Mr.  Baldwin  has  chosen  the  Franz 
Josef  Land  route.  He  has  had  experi- 
ence with  Peary  in  Greenland  and  with 
Wellman  in  Franz  Josef  land,  and  is  thus 
acquainted  with  the  practical  difficulties 
of  both  routes.  Two  ships  will  take  the 
party  north,  one  returning  before  the 
autumn  ice  blocks  retreat,  and  the  sec- 
ond remaining  with  the  men  through 
the  winter.  Mr.  Baldwin  plans  to  take 
a  number  of  tough  Siberian  ponies  with 
him.  The  chances  are  many  against 
his  being  able  to  put  them  to  any  prac- 
tical use,  but  the  one  chance  is  worth 
providing  for. 

The  summer  of  1901  will  thus  witness 
the  simultaneous  inauguration  of  the 
most  systematic  campaign  to  reach  the 
North  and  South  Poles  that  has  ever 
been  attempted.  In  the  Arctics,  Peary, 
Baldwin,  Sverdrup,  and  a  Russian  party 
with  a  vessel  of  the  type  of  the  ice- 
breaking  fcrmak  will  push  northward, 
while  in  the  Antarctics  two  splendidly 
equipped  expeditions,  the  German  and 
British,  will  strive  to  reach  the  opposite 
extreme. 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


THE    BRAZIL-FRENCH  GUIANA 
BOUNDARY  DECISION. 

BY  the  award  of  the  Swiss  Federal 
Council,  the  arbitrators  in  the  dis- 
pute as  to  the  frontier  line  between 
Brazil  and  French  Guiana,  Brazil  has 
obtained  the  main  points  for  which 
she  contended.  Brazil  obtains  147,000 
square  miles  of  the  disputed  territory 
and  France  not  more  than  3,000  square 
miles.  The  dispute  dates  back  to  1688, 
when  France  claimed  to  the  Araguary 
River,  which  is  parallel  to  the  Amazon 
The  boundary  as  determined  by  the 
award  is  the  River  Oyapoc  and,  from 
the  head  source  of  this  river  to  the  fron- 
tier of  Dutch  Guiana,  tile  line  of  the 
Tumuck-Humack  range. 

The  decision  of  the  Federal  Council 
of  Switzerland  is  a  follows: 

"  i .  That  the  Japoc  or  Vincente  Pin- 
con  of  article  8  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht 
is  the  Oyapoc  that  debouches  to  the 
west  of  Cape  Orange,  as  has  been  estab- 
lished by  the  documents  which  Brazil 
has  submitted  to  the  tribunal,  and  that 
the  thahveg  of  that  river,  from  its  mouth 
to  its  source,  definitively  constitutes  the 
first  of  the  frontier  lines  between  Brazil 
and  French  Guiana. 

"2.  That  the  other  frontier  line, 
from  the  source  of  the  Oyapoc  to  the 
point  of  junction  with  the  Dutch  terri- 
tory, will  be  that  which  article  2  of  the 
treaty  of  arbitration  indicated  as  an  in- 
termediate solution — that  is  to  say,  the 
line  of  division  of  the  waters  in  the 
Tumuc-Hurnac  Mountains,  forming  the 
northern  limit  of  the  Amazon  basin." 


arctic  commerce.  Although  north  of 
the  arctic  circle,  it  is  free  of  ice  the  year 
round,  as  it  is  reached  by  an  offshoot  of 
the  Gulf  Stream. 

A  dam  nearly  500  feet  in  length  has 
beeir  built  to  protect  the  harbor,  which 
is  deep  enough  for  the  largest  ships 
The  town  has  now  some  250  inhabit- 
ants, mostly  officers  and  laborers,  boasts 
50  houses,  a  hotel,  and  several  shops, 
and  is  lit  by  incandescent  and  arc  lamps. 
The  government  does  not  expect  the 
town  to  grow  much  larger,  but  it  serves 
as  an  outlet  for  the  trade  of  inland 
northern  Russia,  and  is  a  clearing  point 
for  the  considerable  traffic  of  hides 
that  come  down  the  Obi  and  Yenisei 
Rivers. 


A  CORRECTION. 

MR.  LITTLEHALES  has  called 
attention  to  an  erroneous  state- 
ment in  the  note  appearing  in  the  Jan- 
uary number  of  this  Magazine,  entitled 
"  The  Principles  Underlying  the  Survey 
of  the  Bottom  of  the  Ocean  for  an  All- 
American  Trans-Pacific  Cable  to  the 
Philippines  and  the  Orient."  The  cor- 
rect equation  to  the  curve  which,  by 
revolution  around  a  vertical  axis,  would 
generate  the  theoretical  form  of  an  iso- 
lated submarine  peak  in  which  the  crush- 
ing strength  at  any  cross-section  is  equal 
to  the  combined  weight  of  the  portion  of 
the  formation  above  that  section  and  of 
the  superincumbent  body  of  water  is 


log  .r, 


ALEXANDROWSK. 

A  LEX  ANDROWSK, the  little  arctic 
JTJLharbor  built  by  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment on  the  Murman  coast  two  years 
ago,  is  becoming  a  modest  center  of 


in  which  £  represents  the  base  of  Na- 
perian  logarithms,  A-  the  coefficient  of 
crushing  strength  of  the  materials  com- 
posing the  crust  of  the  earth, '?  the  aver- 
age density  of  these  materials,  and  <?  the 
density  of  sea  water. 


Colonel  F.  F.     [ilder. 


FRANK  FREDERICK  HILDER, 
soldier,  geographer,  and  ethnolo- 
gist, was  born  in  Hastings,  Eng- 
land, in  1836  ;  he  died  in  Washington 
January  21,  1901.  Educated  at  Rugby 
in  the  approved  manner  of  the  times,  he 
afterward  graduated  from  the  British 
military  school  at  Sandhurst,  and  entered 
the  army  as  a  cornet  iti  early  manhood, 
at  a  time  when  the  eyes  of  all  England 
were  turned  on  India.  Sent  imme- 
diately to  aid  in  quelling  the  Sepoy  re- 
bellion, he  soon  saw  service  of  such 
severity— and  met  it  with  such  intre- 
pidity— that  he  was  awarded  the  Indian 
Mutiny  medal,  with  special- service  bars 
for  Delhi  and  Lucknow. 

It  was  during  this  period  of  his  career 
that  Hilder  traversed  the  Indo-Gangetic 
plain,  trod  the  Himalayan  foothills,  and 
visited  the  provinces  and  cities  of  the 
northwestern  empire  from  Bombay  to 
Kashmir,  and  from  the  Punjab  to  Nepal, 
laying  the  foundation  for  a  broad,  yet 
precise,  geographic  and  ethnologic  edu- 
cation ;  and  some  of  the  lectures  of  even 
the  latest  years  of  his  life  drew  inspira- 
tion «nd  significant  detail  from  the  re- 
searches enlivening  these  early  cam- 
paigns. He  saw  service  also  in  Farther 
India,  Borneo,  and  the  Philippines, 
and  after  rising  through  a  lieutenancy 
to  the  rank  of  captain  was  transferred 
to  Africa.  Here  he  won  the  Egyptian 
medal,  and  his  skill  as  military  expert 
and  organizer  attracted  such  attention 
that  after  his  return  to  his  regiment  in 
India  he  was  recalled  and  promoted  to 
a  colonelcy  at  the  express  request  of  the 
Khedive. 

In  Africa,  as  in  India,  Colonel  Hilder 
seized  every  opportunity  for  scientific 
research ;  but  his  tenure  in  the  Egyptian 
army  was  cut  short  by  the  terrible  ex- 
perience of  a  sand-storm,  which  so  in- 
jured his  eyesight  that  he  decided  to 
abandon  a  military  career.  Coming  to 
America  on  his  recovery,  Colonel  Hilder 


met  again  the  contagion  of  military  spirit 
stimulated  by  our  civil  war,  and  did 
special  work  of  importance  in  the  Engi- 
neer Corps,  but  held  so  firmly  to  his 
election  of  a  peaceful  life  as  to  decline 
an  American  commission.  In  the  later 
sixties  he  becamethe  international  repre- 
sentative of  a  small-arms  manufactory, 
and  spent  fifteen  years  chiefly  in  travel 
through  the  several  Spanish-American 
countries;  and  during  this  period  he 
acquired  an  extended  and  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  languages  and  peoples, 
as  well  as  with  national  leaders  and  poli- 
.  cies.  Impressed  by  the  opportunities 
for  international  business  presented  by 
the  actual  and  prospective  republics  of 
Spanish  America,  he  established  a  house 
in  Chicago,  only  to  be  ruined  by  the  fire 
of  1871  ;  later  he  combined  business  en- 
terprises in  St.  Louis  and  Mississippi 
City  with  notable  researches  in  the  ar- 
cheology of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Un- 
happily pursued  by  conflagrations,  he 
turned  to  research  and  publication,  mak- 
ing important  contributions  to  the  pro- 
jectors of  the  Pan-American  Railway  and 
the  Bureau  of  American  Republics. 

Colonel  Hilder  acted  as  secretary  of 
the  National  Geographic  Society  during 
the  year  ending  June,  1899,  afterward 
becoming  Ethnologic  Translator  in  the 
Bureau  of  American  Ethnology.  He 
continued  in  this  position  to  the  time  of 
his  death,  though  he  was  detailed  as  a 
special  agent  of  the  Pan-American  Ex- 
position for  work  in  the  Philippines 
during  the  earlier  half  of  19  ;o. 

As  indicated  by  his  career, Colonel  Hil- 
der possessed  remarkably  strong  char- 
acter ;  yet  he  was  by  instinct  a  natu- 
ralist and  student,  and  devoted  the  best 
energies  of  his  life  to  the  increase  and 
diffusion  of  knowledge.  His  later  pub- 
lications, through  the  Bureau  of  Edu- 
cation and  the  Bureau  of  American 
Republics,  as  well  as  through  the 
NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE, 


86 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


the  Forum,  and  other  standard  period- 
icals, are  well  known  ;  while  his  grace- 
ful and  instructive  lectures,  based  on 
personal  observations  in  India,  Kgypt, 
South  Africa, Central  America,  the  Phil- 
ippines, and  other  remote  regions,  live 
in  the  memory  of  thousands. 

W  J   M. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  YOSEM1TE 
VALLEY.* 

MR.  TURNER  finds  that  the  higher 
part  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  has  been 
glaciated,  and  in  support  of  this  belief  in- 
stances numerous  cases  of  glacial  mark- 
ings and  morainal  deposits. 

If  there  is  any  one  feature  of  the 
higher  parts  of  the  Sierra  which  stands 
out  in  bold  relief,  so  that  "  he  who  runs 
may  read, "  it  is  the  fact  that  it  has  been 
covered  by  glacial  ice  in  sheets  and 
streams,  and  that  at  a  very  recent  time. 
There  is  no  need  to  search  for  glacial 
scratches  or  moraines.  The  whole  as- 
pect of  the  terrane  is  that  of  great  sheets 
of  bare  granite,  not  yet  covered  with 
soil,  with  rounded  surfaces,  cut  by  deep 
U-shaped  canons,  containing  thousands 
of  lake  basins,  and  presenting  cirques 
and  hanging  valleys  ;  in  short,  every- 
thing in  the  field  of  vision  tells  the  story 
of  a  wholesale  ice  invasion.  Nor  was  it 
a  brief  one,  but  one  which  lasted  for 
many  centuries,  during  which  cubic 
miles  of  rock  were  carried  away,  canons 
thousands  of  feet  deep  were  excavated, 
and  the  level  of  the  country  planed  down 
to  an  enormous  extent. 

As  to  the  potency  of  a  glacier  for  the 
work  of  erosion,  Mr.  Turner  is  among 
the  few  remaining  upon  the  negative 
side.  His  argument,  however,  simply 


*  The  Pleistocene  Geology  of  the  South  Central 
Sierra  Nevada,  with  Especial  Reference  to  the 
Origin  of  Yosemite  Va  lev.  Hy  Henry  \Vanl 
Turner.  Proceedings  i«f  the  California  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences,  Vol.  I,  No.  9. 


consists  in  a  denial  of  the  ability  of  a 
glacier  to  excavate  gorges.  That  the 
gorges  in  the  high  Sierra  were  cut  by 
glaciers  is  true  nevertheless.  They  are 
plainly  the  result  of  channel,  not  valley, 
erosion,  and  channel  erosion  upon  such 
a  scale  as  this  is  done  only  by  ice.  The 
line  of  demarcation  between  channel  and 
valley  erosion  in  the  canons  of  the  Sierra 
is  clearly  marked,  and  can  be  deter- 
mined, one  might  almost  say,  to  a  foot — 
/.  e. ,  the  point  at  which  the  present  visi- 
ble marks  of  ice  cease  and  those  of  water 
begin.  I  do  not  mean  that  the  ice  may 
not  have  excavated  farther  down  the 
canons,  but  that  below  certain  points, 
easily  distinguished,  the  subsequent  ac- 
tion of  water  has  masked  that  of  ice.  If 
other  proof  of  the  competency  of  glaciers 
to  do  the  work  of  erosion  upon  a  large 
scale  were  wanting,  the  presence  every- 
where of  hanging  valleys  is  in  itself  evi- 
dence conclusive.  There  is  no  other 
known  agency  which  could  produce 
them,  and  today  we  see  them  in  process 
of  production  everywhere  in  glacial  re- 
gions, notably  upon  ihe  Alaskan  coast, 
where  there  are  thousands  of  them  under 
construction  before  our  eyes. 

Holding  such  opinions  concerning  the 
erosive  power  of  glaciers,  it  is  to  be  ex- 
pected that  Mr.  Turner  attributes  the 
creation  of  the  Yosemite  Valley  to  other 
agencies  than  ice  ;  indeed,  he  attributes 
it  to  aqueous  erosion,  aided  by  systems 
of  fractures  in  the  granite.  He  finds 
no  significance  in  the  fact  that  Tenaya 
Canon  is  vastly  greater  in  breadth  and 
depth,  as  he  states,  than  could  be  created 
by  the  present  Tenaya  Creek.  He  passes 
over  without  notice  the  significant  fact 
that  every  stream,  excepting  Tenaya 
Creek,  enters  Yosemite  Valley  through 
a  hanging  valley,  and  that  the  character 
of  the  Merced  Valley  changes  abruptly 
and  suddenly  to  a  Y-shaped  gorge  two 
or  three  miles  below  Fort  Monroe,  at 
the  foot  of  Yosemite  Valley. 

It  is  perfectly  obvious  to  those  familiar 
with  glacial  phenomena  that  Yosemite  is 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


quite  an  ordinary  and  necessary  product 
of  glacial  erosion,  under  the  conditions 
prevailing  in  that  locality.  The  main 
glacier  came  down  Tenaya  Canon,  cut- 
ting it  to  a  steep  but  fairly  uniform 
grade.  Yosemite  Valley  is  but  a  con- 
tinuation of  that  gorge.  The  end  of  the 
glacier,  at  the  time  that  it  was  cutting 
Yosemite,  extended  not  far  beyond  Fort 
Monroe.  It  remained  there  for  a  long 
time,  and  therefore  plowed  out  the  bot- 
tom of  the  valley  to  a  considerable  depth. 
Branch  glaciers  joinedtheTenayaGlacier 
when  it  filled  Yosemite,  coming  down  the 
valleys  of  Yosemite,  Little  Yosemite, 
Illilouette,  and  Bridal  Veil  and  other 
creeks,  and  forming  hanging  valleys  at 
the  junction  points.  The  formation  of 
the  vertical  cliffs  of  the  valley  may  have 
been  due  to  undermining,  and  may  have 
been  aided  by  the  cleavage  of  the  rocks. 
On  the  recession  of  the  glacier  doubtless 
the  bottom  of  the  valley  was  occupied 
by  a  lake,  which  has  since  been  partially 
filled  by  detritus,  and  drained  by  the 
erosion  of  Merced  River  cutting  through 
the  rock-wall  at  the  foot  of  the  valley. 
HENRY  GANNETT. 


GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES. 

THE  following  decisions  were  made 
by  the  United  States  Board  on  Geo- 
graphic Names,  January  9,  1901  : 

Bloyd  ;  mountain,  Washington  County, 
Arkansas  (not  Bloyed  nor  Bloyd's). 

Bobs  ;  creek,  Lincoln  County,  Missouri 
(not  Bobbs  nor  Bob's). 

Carroll ;  glacier  reaching  the  sea  at  head 
of  Queen  Inlet,  Glacier  Bay,  south- 
eastern Alaska  (not  Woods). 

Chiniak  ;  cape,  the  easternmost  point  of 
Kadiak,  Alaska  (not  Greville.  Her- 
mogenes,  St.  Hennogenes,  Spruce, 
Tolstoi,  Tuniak,  nor  Yelovoi). 


Douglas ;  bay  indenting  south  coast  of 
Kupreanof  Island,  Sumner  Strait, 
southeastern  Alaska  (not  Doug- 
lass) 

Grand  Pacific ;  glacier  reaching  Reid 
Inlet  from  the  north.  Glacier  Bay, 
southeastern  Alaska  (not  Johns 
Hopkins). 

Iskut  ;  mountain,  and  river  tributary  to 
the  Stikine  in  southeastern  Alaska 
(not  Iskoot  nor  Skoot). 

Izhut  ;  bay  and  cape  on  southeastern 
shore  of  Afognak  Island,  Alaska 
(not  Ijoot,  Ishoot,  Pentecost,  Shar- 
ipof,  nor  Whitsuntide). 

Kates  Needles  ;  mountain  near  Stikine 
River,  southeastern  Alaska  (not 
Kates  Needle). 

Kisselen  ;  small  bay  at  head  of  Beaver 
Bay,  Unalaska,  eastern  Aleutians, 
Alaska  (not  Kissialiak  nor  Wor- 
sham). 

Kupreanof ;  strait  between  Afognak  and 
Kadiak  Islands,  Alaska  (not  Karluk, 
North,  Northern,  nor  Sievernoi). 

Mooneyham  ;  branch  of  French  Broad 
River,  Cocke  County,  Tennessee 
(not  Money han  nor  Mooneyhan). 

Mullin  ;  creek,  post-office,  and  railroad 
station,  Mills  County,  Texas  (not 
Mullen). 

Nez  Perce  ;  county  in  Idaho  (not  Nez 
Perces). 

Nishnabotna ;    river    in     southwestern 

,  Iowa  (not  Nishnabotany.Nishnabo- 

tena,  Nishnabotny,  Nishnabotony). 

Reem;  creek,  Buncombe  County,  North 
Carolina  (not  Reams  nor  Rims). 

Rendu  ;  glacier  reaching  the  head  of 
Rendu  Inlet,  Glacier  Bay,  south- 
eastern Alaska  (not  Charpentier). 

Scajaquada ;  creek,  in  Buffalo,  Erie 
County,  New  York  (not  Seajaquada, 
nor  Scajaquady). 

Yellow;  point  on  eastern  shoreof  Tain  gas 
Harbor,  Annette  Island,  southeast- 
ern Alaska  (not  Signal). 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   THE   NATIONAL 
GEOGRAPHIC   SOCIETY 


Popular  Meetings. 

November  9,  1900. — Prof.  Willis  L,. 
Moore  in  the  chair.  Dr.  M.  H.  Saville, 
of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  New  York  city,  delivered  an 
illustrated  address,  "The  Ancient  City 
of  Mitla,  Mexico." 

November  23,  rooo. — Mr.  Marcus 
Baker  in  the  chair.  Gen.  A.  W.  Greely, 
Chief  Signal  Officer,  U.  S.  A.,  delivered 
an  illustrated  address,  "A  trip  through 
Alaska." 

December?,  1900. — President  Graham 
Bell  in  the  chair.  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin, 
President  of  the  Imperial  University  at 
Pekin,  delivered  an  address,  "The  Siege 
of  Pekin." 

December  18,1900. — Mr.  G.  K.  Gilbert 

'  in  the  chair.     Capt.  Ewart  S.  Grogan, 

the  first  white  man  to  cross  Africa  from 

south  to  north,  delivered  an  illustrated 

address,  ' '  From  Cape  to  Cairo. ' ' 

December 2 1, 1 900. — President  Graham 
Bell  in  the  chair.  Mr.  Gifford  Pinchot, 
Forester,  U.  S.  Department  of  Agricult- 
ure, delivered  an  illustrated  address, 
"The  Proposed  Appalachian  Park." 

January  4,  1901. — President  Graham 
Bell  in  the  chair.  Mr.  Joseph  Stanley- 
Brown  delivered  an  illustrated  address, 
"  The  Franciscan  Missions  of  Southern 
California." 

January  /<?,  1901. — President  Graham 
Bell  in  the  chair.  Mr.  Arthur  P.  Davis 
delivered  an  illustrated  address,  "The 
Isthmian  Canal  Routes." 

Technical  Meetings. 

December i 4, 1 900. — President  Graham 
Bell  in  the  chair.  Papers  were  read  as  fol- 
lows: ' '  Winter  Precipitation  in  Relation 
to  Irrigation, ' '  by  Dr.  H.  C.  Frankenfield ; 
"The  Survey  for  an  All- American  Cable 
to  the  Philippines  and  the  Orient,"  by 


G.     W.     Littlehales;     "American    Arc 
Measures,"  by  C.  A.  Schott. 

January  //,  1901. — President  Graham 
Bell  in  the  chair.  Papers  were  read  as 
follows:  ' '  The  Stenometer  as  a  Distance 
Measurer,"  by  W.  J.  Peters;  "The 
Establishment  of  Compass  Deviation 
Range-marks  on  Delaware  Breakwater," 
by  D.  B.Wainwright  ;  "A  Topographic 
Cycle  on  Glaciers,"  by  G.  K.  Gil- 
bert. 

Announcement  of  Meetings. 

February  i,  1901. — "  Mexico,  Her 
Characteristics  and  Recent  Progress," 
"by  Dr.  Don  Juan  N.  Navarro,  Mexican 
Consul  General  at  New  York. 

February  75,  loor. — "  Explorations 
in  Abyssinia,"  by  Otis  T.  Crosby. 

March  /,  1901. — ' '  The  Recent  Famine 
in  India,"  by  Gilson  Willets. 

These  lectures  will  be  delivered  in 
the  Congregational  Church,  gth  and  G 
streets,  at  8  p.  m. 

TECHNICAL  MEETINGS  for  the  reading 
of  papers  and  discussion  will  be  held  in 
the  hall  of  the  Cosmos  Club  on  the  even- 
ings of  February  8  and  22. 

The  committee  having  in  charge  the 
formation  of  the  programs  for  the  tech- 
nical meetings  of  the  Society  desire  to 
invite  members  to  report  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Society  the  titles  of  com- 
munications bearing  upon  geographical 
research  that  are  available  for  presenta- 
tion to  the  Society  during  the  months 
of  February,  March,  April,  and  May, 
1901. 

The  subject  of  the  LENTEN  COURSE  of 
lectures  for  this  year  is  "  The  Countries 
of  Asia. ' '  The  first  lecture  of  the  series 
will  be  at  4. 20  p.  m. ,  Tuesday  afternoon, 
February  26,  in  the  Columbia  Theater, 
1 2th  and  F  streets,  Washington,  D.  C. 


VOL.  XII,  No.  3 


WASHINGTON 


MARCH,  1901 


ABYSSINIA-THE    COUNTRY    AND    PEOPLE 


BY  OSCAR  T.  CROSBY 


ON  leaving  Paris  in  December, 
1899,  I  went  first  to  Constanti- 
nople, as  I  wished  to  journey 
across  the  interior  of  Turkey  down  the 
Mesopotamia!!  Valley ;  but  on  my  arrival 
at  Constantinople  our  representatives  at 
the  American  legation  informed  me  that 
not  less  than  thirty  days  would  be  re- 
quired for  obtaining  permission  to  go 
into  the  interior.  Passports  to  the  great 
sea-coast  towns  of  Turkey  are  had  as 
readily  as  those  for  any  European  city, 
but  the  Ottoman  Government  is  unwill- 
ing that  travelers  should  penetrate  into 
the  rather  loosely  governed  portions  of 
Asia  Minor  unless  provided  with  other 
special  letters  insuring  as  far  as  possible 
the  safety  of  the  bearer.  The  necessary 
delay  being  greater  than  I  cared  to  make, 
I  left  Constantinople  for  Cairo. 

The  Austrian  captain  of  the  Egyptian 
vessel  piloted  us  for  five  davs  across  the 
Mediterranean  without  making  any  as- 
tronomical observations  whatever. 

Arrived  at  Cairo,  a  fortunate  chance 
gave  me  acquaintance  with  Sir  Rennell 
Rodd,  Secretary  of  the  British  Agency, 
which  means,  substantially,  Secretary 
of  the  Egyptian  Government  in  Cairo. 


This  gentleman  had  made  the  journey 
to  Addis  Abeba  a  few  years  ago  at  the 
head  of  a  mission  whose  object  was  to 
cultivate  the  friendship  of  and  obtain 
treaty  with  the  African  monarch.  From 
Sir  Rennell  I  obtained  the  first  detailed 
information  as  to  how  I  might  get  into 
Abyssinia,  and  through  the  kindness  of 
other  British  officers  stationed  at  the 
arsenal  I  was  enabled  to  buy  a  few 
rifles  and  some  ammunition.  The  sale 
of  fire-arms  generally  is  strictly  con- 
trolled in  Cairo,  as  it  is  in  most  oriental 
countties. 

In  Cairo,  too,  I  was  able  to  have  packed 
in  wooden  cases  a  stock  of  excellent 
provisions,  the  selection  of  which  was 
largely  suggested  to  me  by  the  provision 
merchants  who  had  supplied  several  of 
the  Nile  expedi'ionsof  troops.  An  ex- 
ample, however,  of  the  importance  of 
detailed  knowledge  was  given  me  when, 
on  getting  into  the  interior  and  being 
required  to  use  the  small  Abyssinian 
mule  for  transport,  I  found  it  necessary 
to  cut  down  these  boxes,  which  in  Cairo 
were  supposed  to  be  quite  the  right  size, 
and  which  had  been  satisfactory  enough 
on  camels,  and  probably  would  have 


9o 


THE    NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC    MAGAZINE 


been  satisfactory  enough  on  a  full-sized 
male. 

Here,  also,  through  the  kindness  of 
the  American  mission,  I  acquired  a  very 
doubtful  asset  in  the  person  of  a  shop- 
worn, old  Abyssinian,  who  had  left  his 
native  land  as  a  boy  and  had  been  too 
much  cared  for  by  a  succession  of  mis- 
sionary friends,  who  had  brought  him 
up  into  a  softened  old  manhood.  His 
qualifications  were  honesty,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  two  principal  Abyssinian 
tongues,  together  with  sufficient  Kn- 
glish  to  keep  me  from  going  mad ;  and  a 
helplessness  which  assured  his  fidelity 
to  me  when  we  were  in  strange  lands. 

With  about  twenty  boxes  of  provisions 
and  the  ancient  Michael  Gabriel,  I  took 
ship  at  Port  Said  on  a  tramp  vessel  bound 
for  Aden.  Until  the  comparatively  re- 
cent establishment  of  Jibuti,  in  French 
Somali  Land,  Aden  was  the  only  seaport 
near  this  portion  of  the  African  coast 
which  one  could  reach  by  steam  vessels 
plying  to  or  through  the  southern  end 
of  the  Red  Sea. 

It  would  have  been  possible  to  take 
an  Italian  ship  for  Massawa,  and  to  be- 
gin there  the  journey  toward  the  inte- 
rior, but  I  was  told,  'and  could  well 
understand,  that  the  sad  disasters  suf- 
fered by  the  Italians  in  recent  years 
had  reduced  Massawa  to  a  point  of  al- 
most negligible  importance,  and,  more- 
over, there  I  would  have  had  more 
difficulty  in  obtaining  the  necessary 
consent  from  Menelek  for  the  interior 
journey  than  at  Jibuti  or  Zeila. 

Aden  is  famous  the  world  over  as  one 
of  the  hottest  and  in  all  natural  ways 
one  of  the  most  detestable  places  fre- 
quented by  civilized  man.  My  first  day 
or  two  at  this  point,  housed  in  one  of 
the  two  strange  little  inns  which  the 
traveler  may  find,  quite  bore  out  the 
popular  conception  of  the  place  ;  but 
soon  acquaintance  with  the  hospitable 
British  officers  made  the  place  seem  to 
me  quite  a  pleasure  resort.  I  saw  then, 
more  clearly  than  in  Cairo,  which  is  now 


quite  Kuropean,  the  splendid  talent  of 
our  British  cousins  for  making  them- 
selves and  their  guests  almost  comfor- 
table and  entirely  contented  in  all  sorts 
of  conditions. 

A  score  of  forgotten,  but  at  the  last 
moment  much  desired,  articles  were  ob- 
tained, and  all  the  purchases  were  found 
in  good  condition  when  I  arrived  in  Zeila 
save  only  that  the  sea  biscuit,  which  I  had 
ordered  to  serve  as  bread,  had  been  for- 
gotten by  the  packers.  The  result  was 
the  important  discovery  that  one  can  get 
along  tolerably  well  without  bread. 

A  little  steamer  coughs  its  way  across 
once  a  week  from  Aden  to  Berbera, 
thence  to  Zeila,  thence  back  again.  On 
this  Michael  Gabriel  was  sent  a  week 
ahead  with  instructions  to  deliver  a  letter 
to  Captain  Harold,  the  British  officer  in 
command  at  Zeila,  and,  with  his  per- 
mission, to  get  together  some  camels. 

When  I  reached  Zeila,  Michael  seemed 
to  have  gotten  close  to  only  one  camel. 
That  one  had  managed,  even  with  its 
soft  pad,  to  kick  Michael's  shin  into  col- 
lapse and  makehim  mourn  the  difference, 
which  he  declared  to  be  well  marked,  be- 
tween the  Somali  camels  and  his  humped 
brother  of  Asia  Minor  and  Egypt. 

A  few  Somali  servants  had  been  en- 
gaged in  Aden,  one  of  whom  tried  to 
desert  when  the  little  ship  stopped  at  Ber- 
bera, but  we  were  finally  landed  safely, 
carried  in  chairs  on  the  shoulders  of 
strong,  young  natives  through  the  shal- 
lows to  the  shore.  Zeila  is  a  seaport, 
not  a  harbor. 

Captain  Harold  put  me  up  at  his 
modest  Presidency,  and  his  kindness 
followed  me  at  every  moment  in  all  the 
detailed  organization  of  the  caravan. 
A  trade  with  camel  men  was  made  at  so 
much  a  load  for  the  distance  from  Zeila 
to  Gildessa.  Additional  and  trustworthy 
men  were  engaged  for  my  personal  serv- 
ices, and  happily  two  small  mules,  the 
only  two  in  Zeila.,  were  sold  to  me  as 
saddle  animals  for  myself  and  compan- 
ion. 


ABYSSINIA — THE    COUNTRY   AND    PEOPLE         91 


As  I  had  a  very  natural  desire  to  see 
French  Somali  Land,  I  went  over  in  a 
day's  sail  in  a  native  boat  from  Zeila  to 
Jibuti.  This  seaport  is  not  more  than 
ten  years  old,  has  about  eight  thousand 
inhabitants,  loyal  natives,  and  is  already 
rather  neatly  built — a  low-roofed,  white, 
tropical  French  town  with  a  good  har- 
bor. Ships  of  the  M.  M.  line  stop 
about  twice  a  month,  and,  more  than 
all,  as  to  its  future  importance,  it  is  the 
starting  point  of  a  railway  which  French 
capital  has  pushed  to  the  interior.  A 
year  ago  the  work  was  completed  for  a 
distance  of  forty  miles,  with  consider- 
able preparatory  grading  for  some  dis- 
tance ahead.  The  workmen  must  be 
guarded  at  all  times  by  soldiers,  who 
are  for  the  most  part  from  the  west 
coast  of  Africa.  There  is  an  occasional 
outbreak;  a  few  Italian  or  Arab  laborers 
are  killed  by  a  rush  at  night ;  yet  through 
it  all  the  patient  stockholders  in  Paris 
are  backing  up  the  efforts  of  their  rep- 
resentatives, who  are  building  a  railway 
that  may  be  small,  indeed,  in  commer- 
cial value,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  may 
have  a  very  large  political  significance. 
At  least  it  may  be  said  that  this  railway 
enterprise  does  very  much  to  offset  what 
would  otherwise  be  the  preponderating 
influence  of  Great  Britain  upon  the 
future  Abyssinian  question,  due  to  the 
large  British  possessions  which  almost 
surround  Menelek's  domain. 

I  found  in  Jibuti  that  arms  were  sold 
in  very  large  numbers,  and  indeed  all 
caravans  which  I  saw  starting  for  the  in- 
terior during  three  or  four  days'  stay  bore 
boxes  marked  ' '  cartouches. ' '  Nearly  all 
imports  to  Abyssinia  other  than  arms  go 
by  way  of  Zeila. 

Having  finally  chaffered  myself  into 
the  ownership  of  a  third  mule,  I  started 
back  to  Zeila,  across  the  desert,  accom- 
panied by  a  follower  who  had  walked 
across  a  night  or  two  before.  There  was 
really  no  great  danger,  since  the  whole 
coast  is  under  the  power  either  of  the 
French  or  English, but  a  white  man  with- 


out arms  is  not  thoroughly  understood 
by  the  natives,  and  the  killing  of  any 
man  in  an)'  manner  reflects  great  credit 
upon  the  slayer.  Indeed,  it  was  feared 
that  a  weaponless  white  man  might  be 
considered  as  a  derelict  which  could  not 
be  put  to  better  use  than  by  a  kind  of 
innocent  slaughter,  quite  without  per- 
sonal animus.  However  that  may  be,  I 
got  across  the  desert,  a  distance  of  forty 
miles,  in  about  eight  hours  of  very  hot 
riding,  relieved  by  a  very  splendid  mi- 
rage effect  on  approaching  Zeila,  whose 
low  dingy  houses  became  a  glittering 
row  of  splendid  white  palaces. 

Finally  sixteen  camels,  with  proper 
loads,  were  gathered,  a  well-defined  bar- 
gain was  made  for  their  hire,  and  we 
drifted  out  upon  the  desert, camping  only 
eight  miles  from  Zeila  the  first  evening. 
Here  the  sweet  silence  of  the  desert  fell 
upon  us,  broken  only  by  the  chatter  of 
men  and  grunt  of  camels ;  then  the  night 
finds  its  true  voice,  the  complaining  cry 
of  the  hyena.  Subsequently  in  the  long 
march  one  day  was  very  much  like  an- 
other, so  far  as  the  movement  of  the 
caravan  was  concerned.  Little  differ- 
ence was  made  even  by  changing  trans- 
port to  mules,  for  with  either  animal  the 
average  journey,  when  not  carrying  food, 
must  be  in  the  neighborhood  of  twelve 
miles  a  day. 

The  African  camel  starts,  out  on  such 
a  journey  with  no  stored-up  fat,  and  he 
must  have  a  few  hours  a  day  in  which  to 
nibble  at  the  thorn  bushes,  which  are 
found  almost  everywhere  in  this  east 
shore  desert.  The  mule  cannot  subsist 
on  thorn  bush  ;  hence  he  is  not  used  in 
this  region,  but  in  the  grassy  country  he 
must  have  a  few  hours  for  grazing,  so 
that  substantially  the  day's  march  aver- 
ages not  more  than  five  hours. 

When  it  comes  to  mountain-climbing 
the  camel  is  very  inefficient,  and  is  rarely 
used.  The  little  barefooted  mule,  native 
to  Abyssinia,  is  the  only  and  very  ex- 
cellent means  of  transportation.  He  car- 
ries about  120  pounds  weight,  and  con- 


92 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


tinues  to  carry  it  when  his  back  and  side 
have  become  lacerated  to  a  most  sickening 
degree.  These  mules  are  bought  at  the 
average  price  in  our  money  of  $25,  and 
horses  for  about  half  that  sum.  They 
can  be  more  readily  had  for  purchase 
when  one  has  reached  the  Abyssinian 
country  than  camels  can  be  had  in  Somali 
Land. 

At  Harar  the  donkeys  and  camels  are 
dropped  and  the  mule,  whose  services 
thereafter  are  almost  universal  through- 
out Abyssinia,  comes  into  use.  For  the 
journey  to  Addis  Abeba  a  mule  cara- 
van of  twenty-five  mules  can  be  gotten 
together  in  the  course  of  a  week  at 
Harar,  if  one  is  very  industrious,  but  it 
would  be  impossible,  apparently,  to  get 
any  one  man  to  contract  for  twenty-five 
mule  loads.  There  were  in  my  small 
caravan  of  twenty  animals  six  independ- 
ent owners.  Fortunately  they  all  have 
pretty  nearly  the  same  habits  and  this 
constitutes  the  only  bond  between  them. 

Having  become  after  the  first  ten  days' 
march  from  Harar  quite  desperate  on  ac- 
count of  daily  disputes  as  to  where  we 
should  camp,  I  insisted  upon  the  appoint- 
ment of  one  spokesman  with  whom  I 
might  deal  every  evening  in  determining 
the  followingday's  march.  All  solemnly 
agreed  to  stand  by  such  decision  as  their 
chosen  spokesman  and  myself  might 
reach,  and  they  held  to  the  agreement 
for  just  two  days.  I  learned,  however, 
that  they  were  not  altogether  a  vicious 
lot;  they  were  merely  stubborn  children, 
so  far  as  conduct  was  concerned,  and, 
moreover,  in  respect  to  the  marches 
which  the  mules  could  stand,  were  much 
wiser  than  I. 

My  agreement  was  that  I  should  be 
landed  in  Addis  Abeba  in  twenty-five 
days  from  the  start  at  Harar,  and  after 
all  my  vexations  they  carried  out  that 
part  of  the  contract.  Two-thirds  of  the 
contract  price  was  paid  at  the  beginning 
of  the  journey,  the  remainder  in  Addis 
Abeba.  They  all  expect  something  in 
the  way  of  backsheesh,  and  those  who  had 


been  most  troublesome  were,  of  course, 
most  importunate. 

In  pushing  beyond  Addis  Abeba  it 
was  impossible  to  get  a  hired  caravan, 
as  there  is  no  such  regular  means  of  con- 
veyance. I  was  able,  however,  after  a 
twelve  days'  stop,  to  purchase  seventeen 
mules  ;  but  this  was  by  happy  chance, 
due  to  the  fact  that  Colonel  Harrington, 
the  British  diplomatic  agent,  had  thir- 
teen of  these  mules  already  in  hand,  left 
in  his  care  by  some  English  traveler  who 
had  passed  through  eight  or  ten  months 
before.  Here  also,  hoping  to  find  the 
horse  a  little  more  variable  in  his  paces 
than  the  mule,  I  bought  two,  one  for  my 
assistant  and  one  for  myself.  It  was  a 
relief  as  compared  with  the  slow  dog 
trot  of  the  mule  ;  but  in  the  exceedingly 
rough  marching  which  had  to  be  accom- 
plished on  reaching  the  Blue  Nile,  the 
horses  soon  played  out.  One  of  them 
had  to  be  shot,  and  the  other  was  turned 
into  the  caravan  and  bore  about  half  a 
load. 

The  camel  men  from  Zeila  and  the 
Somali,  whom  I  had  engaged  as  personal 
attendants,  were  all  Mohammedans. 

The  mule  men  from  Harar  to  Addis 
Abeba  were  Abyssinians,  but  of  mixed 
faith,  there  still  being  a  considerable  Mo- 
hammedan element  in  southern  Abys- 
sinia, due  to  a  great  invasion  which  took 
place  two  or  three  hundred  years  ago 
under  a  leader  who  was  doubtless  of 
Arabian  family  and  whose  first  followers 
were  the  Mohammedanized  Somali. 
Many  Galla,  who  constitute  one  of  the 
most  widely  distributed  people  in  north- 
east Africa,  were  also  converted  and 
many  have  been  permitted  by  their  pres- 
ent rulers,  the  Abyssinians,  to  retain 
their  faith. 

From  Addis  Abeba  on  to  the  Sudan 
my  followers  were  of  Abyssinian  Chris- 
tian creed,  with  only  four  or  five  Mo- 
hammedans, these  being  the  Somali  who 
accompanied  me  from  the  coast  through- 
out the  journey.  Although  they  could 
not  eat  of  the  same  food,  there  was  not 


ABYSSINIA— THE    COUNTRY   AND    PEOPLE 


93 


a  great  deal  of  friction  between  the  two 
tribes.  On  several  occasions,  when  I 
was  lucky  enough  to  shoot  a  deer,  a 
Somali  and  an  Abyssinian  would  enter 
a  good-natured  foot  race,  each  with 
drawn  knife,  the  winner  being  able  to 
give  the  finishing  cut-throat  blow  to  the 
animal  and  thus  obtain  for  his  compan- 
ions fresh  meat  which  the  others  would 
not  deign  to  touch. 

The  mule  caravan  was  used  to  carry 
me  through  all  the  known  and  unknown 
country  from  Addis  Abeba  northwest- 
erly to  Famaka,  on  the  Blue  Nile,  where 
at  last  a  white  face  was  seen  again — 
that  of  one  of  those  solitary  young  En- 
glish officers  who  may  be  found  in  so 
many  faraway  spots  doing  the  empire's 
hardest  work.  At  Famaka  the  caravan 
was  dismissed, the  men  returned  to  Abys- 
sinia, and  the  rest  of  the  journey  to 
Khartum  performed  in  a  native  boat, 
which  was  rowed  and  pushed  down  the 
river  450  miles  in  thirteen  days. 

The  country  which  I  traversed  may 
be  divided,  so  far  as  physical  character- 
istics are  concerned,  into  three  parts : 

First,  the  Somali  desert  lands,  ex- 
tending from  the  coast  to  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Gildessa.  In  this  region  water 
is  to  be  had  only  by  digging  holes  in 
the  sand,  some  of  which  remain  in  a  tol- 
erably permanent  condition,  so  that  it 
may  not  be  necessary  for  each  caravan 
to  freshly  scoop  the  day's  supply.  In 
other  places  the  natives  have  learned 
from  experience  that  in  the  dry  river 
beds  water  can  be  found  from  one  to  six 
feet  below  the  surface,  and  the  position 
of  the  camp  is  determined  accordingly. 
The  men  refused  to  use  the  spade  and 
shovel  which  I  had  carefully  provided, 
and  scooped  a  hole  with  their  hands, 
and  in  the  course  of  five  or  ten  minutes 
the  bottom  of  the  hole  would  fill  with 
trickling  water,  quite  brown  with  sand 
but  otherwise  good. 

In  this  region  a  hot  night  follows  a 
hotter  day;  yet  there  is  a  sort  of  clean- 
liness due  to  the  lack  of  moisture,  and 


one  feels  less  than  might  be  supposed 
the  absence  of  water  for  bathing  pur- 
poses. Indeed,  on  several  occasions  I 
learned  by  experience  that  Mohammed 
was  speaking  merely  the  ordinary  prac- 
tice of  his  desert-dwelling  people  when 
he  prescribed  the  use  of  sand  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  water  in  the  execution  of 
those  ablutions  which  his  creed  orders 
as  a  part  of  religious  duty.  The  desert 
is  not  entirely  of  sand.  Sometimes  it 
is  rather  sandy  than  sand,  and  in  such 
cases  it  is  generally  widely  covered  with 
large  and  small  volcanic  stones.  It  is 
a  land  of  desolation,  but  a  land  of  peace, 
and  few  who  have  seen  it  but  would 
gladly  go  there  again  for  rest. 

The  next  region,  the  great  Abyssinian 
plateau,  shows  rather  barrenly  in  spots, 
but  for  the  most  part  is  a  tolerably  well- 
watered  and  pleasing  country.  There 
are  wide,  rolling  prairies,  which  show 
brown  toward  the  end  of  the  dry  season, 
but  are  green  during  the  rainy  season 
and  the  earlier  part  of  the  dry.  Splen- 
did trees  are  found  on  some  of  the  moun- 
tain sides  and  elsewhere  in  isolated 
groups,  but,  generally  speaking,  there 
is  a  sad  dearth  of  forest  growth. 

After  the  exceedingly  arduous  work 
of  climbing  up  the  sides  of  this  great 
escarpment,  one  may  travel  for  many 
days  over  easy  country.  It  is  this 
great  plateau  which  the  Abyssinian 
have  held  against  all  comers  for  so  many 
centuries,  and  now  that  they  have  the 
rifle  it  will  be  a  bloody  task  for  men 
who  would  dislodge  their  power  over  it. 

This  great  region  is  cut  deeply  in  two 
by  the  Blue  Nile,  whose  waters  run  in 
a  chasm  five  thousand  feet  below  the 
plains,  where  I  first  crossed  it,  and 
about  the  same  level  at  the  two  other 
points  where  I  was  able  to  descend  to 
it.  It  was  this  upper  Nile  region  and 
the  region  lying  at  the  foot  of  the  west- 
ernmost escarpment  along  the  Blue  Nile 
which  had  not  heretofore  been  visited 
by  white  men.  The  descents  were  made 
chiefly  on  foot  and  were  very  difficult. 


94 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


The  third  region  is  that  into  which 
one  descends  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Woinbera,  and  where  one  finds,  after  a 
very  few  days'  inarch  from  the  foot  of 
the  m.mntains.  the  beginning  of  the 
characteristic  Nile  scenery.  The  coun- 
try is  flat,  covered  for  the  most  part 
where  neglected,  with  the  mimosa,  which 
here  grows  to  a  considerable  height,  al- 
though it  is  a  very  near  relative  of  the 
stunted  thorn  bush,  familiar  on  the 
Somali  plains.  The  palm,  however, 
and  a  number  of  other  good  wide-spread- 
ing trees  of  the  fig  family  appear  to  re- 
lieve the  ugliness  of  tree-life.  I  shall 
not  be  able  now  to  describe  in  any  de- 
tail the  splendid  physical  features  which 
impress  one  on  passing  over  the  great 
plateau  and  in  crossing  the  Nile,  the 
Tchencha,  the  Bolassa,  and  other  inflow- 
ing streams. 

It  will  be  sufficient  to  say  that  the 
western  part  of  Abyssinia  upon  which  I 
am  now  able  to  report  to  the  civilized 
intelligence  is  a  beautiful  region,  quite 
as  attractive  as  any  of  the  already  known 
portions  of  the  Abyssinian  plateau. 

As  to  the  peoples  met  with,  they  were 
the  Somali,  already  familiar  to  travelers; 
Abyssinians, about  whom  much  has  been 
said  and  of  whom  I  shall  give  some  of 
my  impressions;  the  subservient  Galla, 
the  Agaa,  the  Shankali,  the  Sudanese, 
and  the  Shinasha,  a  small  but  interesting 
tribe,  unknown,  I  believe,  until  this 
journey  was  made. 

The  great  part  which  the  Sudanese 
have  played  in  the  drama  of  modern 
Egyptian  history  is  already  known. 

The  Somali  is  not  likely  to  attract  the 
world's  attention  in  any  great  degree, 
as  he  is  now  quietly  subject  to  a  British 
protectorate  in  the  country  back  from  the 
Berbera  and  Zeila  coast  and  to  a  French 
protectorate  in  the  small  region  around 
Jibuti.  There  are,  perhaps,  not  rn^ore 
than  half  a  million,  and  many  of  these 
are  becoming  more  or  less  civilized  by 
reason  of  the  influence  of  the  coast  towns. 

What  struck  me  particularly  in  British 


Somali  Land  was  the  fact  that  three 
Englishmen  constituted  the  whole  white 
force  engaged  in  the  business  of  this  pro- 
tectorate. There  are  some  East  Indian 
assistants  and  a  few  East  Indian  troops, 
thirty-five  or  forty  in  all.  There  are 
some  Greek,  Armenian,  and  East  In- 
dian merchants  in  Berbera  and  Zeila. 
The  control  seems  to  be  largely  a  moral 
one,  so  far  as  direct  influence  is  con- 
cerned, based  on  a  clever  handling  of 
the  tribal  chiefs,  who  are  kept  in  the 
coast  towns  as  "justices  of  the  peace," 
but  in  reality  as  hostages. 

MENELEK. 

Of  the  Abyssinians,  Menelek  is  the 
greatest,  not  because  he  is  the  king,  but 
he  is  the  king  because  he  is  the  great- 
est. He  is  emperor  of  the  Abyssinians 
by  virtue  of  having  conquered  a  great 
many  difficulties,  most  of  which  yielded 
only  to  the  sword  or  rifle.  He  is  not  of 
that  pure  Semitic  stock  which  some  thou- 
sands of  years  ago  seems  to  have  come 
over  first  and  to  have  later  received  re- 
inforcements, from  time  to  time,  across 
the  Red  Sea  from  Arabia,  and  even  from 
Judea.  His  father  was  of  a  kingly  family 
that  professes  to  trace  its  ancestry  to  a 
union  between  Solomon  and  the  Queen 
of  Sheba.  Our  accepted  authorities  in 
respect  to  Solomon  do  not  mention  this 
particular  amour,  but  that  may  have 
been  merely  overlooked  by  time. 

Menelek's  mother  was  a  woman  of 
low  origin,  and  it  may  be  that  this  cross- 
ancestry,  while  depriving  him  of  the 
pure,  finely  chiseled  facial  type  which 
many  of  his  nobles  have,  and  giving 
him  the  negroid  face  instead,  may  have 
added  something  of  vigor,  since  we  know 
that  to  be  too  pure-blooded  means  some- 
times to  be  thin-blooded.  One  may  fairly 
say  that,  while  having  ihe  advantage 
of  noble  paternity,  Menelek  has  fairly 
fought  his  way  to  power. 

He  is  eagerly  curious  to  see  all  new 
things  that  Europeans  have  painfully 


ABYSSINIA— THE    COUNTRY   AND    PEOPLE 


95 


brought  up  to  his  court,  five  hundred 
miles  by  caravan;  yet,  of  course,  he  can- 
not make  use  understandingly  of  more 
than  a  few.  I  remember  when  first  pre- 
sented to  him,  as  he  sat  in  a  doorway 
of  the  largest  room  in  his  residence,  a 
rather  confused  mass  of  presents;  Sevres 
vases  from  the  French  Government,  pho- 
nograph boxes,  sextants,  and  such  ob- 
jects were  piled  up  behind  him.  He 
received  me  by  appointment,  through 
Colonel  Harrington,  who  with  his  assist- 
ant, Mr.  Baird,  had  given  me  the  hospi- 
tality of  their  compound  The  black- 
kindly  face  indicated  patience  as  well 
as  strength,  and  his  manner  was  that  of 
quiet  dignity. 

'  Following  the  well-established  cus- 
tom, I  had  with  me  a  few  gifts  to  present 
to  His  Majesty,  who  had  sent  me  goats, 
bread,  and  tej .  Two  large  volumes,  with 
illustrations  of  scenes  of  our  own  coun- 
try, of  its  cities,  mountains,  waterfalls, 
etc.,  I  offered  ill  the  hope  of  making 
known  the  land  of  the  free.  Through 
the  very  excellent  interpretation  of  a 
young  Abyssinian  attached  to  the  British 
agency,  I  endeavored  to  explain  the  geo- 
graphical relations  of  the  United  States 
to  the  rest  of  the  world,  but  I  am  quite 
sure  that  I  did  not  make  a  brilliant  suc- 
cess. The  difference  in  time  between 
New  York,  which  I  mentioned  as  being 
ou  r  biggest  city,  and  A  ddis  Abeba  seemed 
to  interest  His  Majesty  very  much,  but 
not  understandingly. 

Menelek  seemed  to  have  some  appre- 
ciation of  the  magnitude  of  the  Brooklyn 
Bridge  and  of  the  Capitol,  yet  the  ab- 
sence in  his  own  language  of  any  defined 
measure  of  distance  left  me  doubtful  as 
to  whether,  in  spite  of  his  unceasing 
efforts  to  understand  things  European, 
he  is  really  able  to  mentally  interpret 
such  great  dimensions.  He  has  never 
seen  a  house  larger  than  his  own,  unless 
possibly  the  neglected  ruins  of  a  con- 
siderable building  erected  by  the  Portu- 
guese about  300  years  ago  in  Gondar, 
once  Abyssinia's  capital. 


As  the  Abyssinian  is  unable  to  make 
anything  save  the  round  hut,  the  royal 
residence  was  built  by  East  Indian  car- 
penters of  rails  wottled  together  and 
more  or  less  heavily  covered  with  mud, 
the  roof  being  straw  and  mud  thatch. 
This  palace  or  Gebi  might  pass  for  a 
fairly  comfortable  country  house, shabby 
for  want  of  paint.  Nor  has  Menelek  ever 
seen  a  boat,  save  the  sections  of  one  of 
poor  Marchand's  little  flotilla  lying  cov- 
ered up  in  front  of  the  Gebi  hundreds 
of  miles  from  any  navigable  water,  tell- 
ing in  its  mute,  sad  way  of  Fashoda, 
that  well-known  story  of  bravery  and 
blundering. 

What  I  most  relied  upon  as  clinching 
in  the  royal  mind  a  tolerably  defined 
idea  of  our  country  were  the  pictures  of 
some  of  our  cotton-manufacturing  es- 
tablishments in  New  England.  This  I 
described  as  the  place  where  were  manu- 
factured practically  all  the  cotton  goods 
which  constitute  the  clothing  of  all  of 
his  most  advanced  subjects.  I  had 
noted  with  surprise  and  pleasure  in 
Aden,  Zeila,  and  Harar  that  American 
cotton  goods  were  the  only  cotton  goods 
in  evidence. 

Referring  to  a  map,  I  further  ex- 
plained that  another  English-speaking 
countr)'  lies  to  our  north,  and  that  this 
country  was  a  part  of  Great  Britain's 
empire.  So  far  as  my  object  of  instruc- 
tion was  concerned,  I  think  in  this  point 
I  overdid  it.  This  reference  to  Canada, 
with  my  statement  that  all  the  people 
in  my  country  spoke  English,  coupled 
with  the  fact  that  I  came  in  a  certain 
sense  under  the  wing  of  Colonel  Har- 
rington and  accompanied  by  his  inter- 
preter, evidently  left  a  blurred  impres- 
sion of  my  relation  to  the  American 
eagle.  At  any  rate,  when  finally  writ- 
ten permission  was  given  to  me  to  go 
into  the  unknown  country  to  the  north- 
west, I  was  described  as  Mr.  Crosby, 
the  Englishman. 

The  Emperor  was  clad  in  modest, even 
severe,  garb,  the  chief  vestment  being 


96 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


a  black-silk  burnous.  He  wore  stock- 
ings, but  no  shoes.  A  tightly  drawn 
turban  covered  what  is  said  to  be  a  well- 
developed  baldness.  Menelek  is  a  hard- 
working ruler,  rising  at  three  or  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning  to  receive  reports 
that  have  come  in  by  mule  courier  from 
v.i i  ions  sections  of  his  empire  and  to 
dictate  responses. 

He  is  said  to  be  unable  to  write,  and 
perhaps  would  consider  it  undignified  to 
use  the  art  if  he  possessed  it.  Till  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  he  is  busy  with 
his  dispatches,  and,  it  may  surprise 
Americans  to  know,  conducts  business 
with  Harar,  his  most  important  town, 
about  200  miles  away,  by  a  telephone. 

There  is  nothing  more  bizarre  than  to 
find  a  long-distance  telephone  line  in 
this  kingdom,  which  is,  so  far  as  me- 
chanical arts  are  concerned,  very  be- 
nighted ;  yet  as  one  follows  the  main 
highway  of  the  kingdom  by  toiling  over 
mountain  trails,  which  almost  defy  even 
the  patient  mule,  one  scarcely  loses 
sight  for  a  distance  of  nearly  200  miles 
of  the  familiar  telephone  pole.  This  is 
the  work  of  a  few  enterprising  French- 
men, the  same  who  are  at  the  head  of 
the  Jibuti  Railway  enterprise,  aided  by  a 
Swiss,  M.  Ihlg,  who  has  been  the  right 
hand  of  Menelek  for  something  like 
twenty  years. 

How  much  there  is  of  the  commercial, 
how  much  of  the  political  element  in  this 
extraordinary  work  of  these  Frenchmen, 
I  do  not  venture  to  say.  They  undoubt- 
edly appear  to  Menelek  as  the  chief  in- 
terpreters of  all  the  glories  of  our  me- 
chanical civilization.  His  army  is 
supplied  with  their  rifles  and  cartridges, 
and  may  the  day  be  long  distant  when 
these  French-made  bullets  shall  be  di- 
rected against  European  troops  of  what- 
ever nationality. 

After  nine  o'clock  Menelek  is  read}' 
to  receive  those  of  his  subjects,  great  or 
small,  who  claim  access  to  him,  and  also 
the  occasional  European  who  travels  to 
this  strange  mud-hut  capital.  He  has 


learned  that  there  are  some  costumes 
appropriate  to  ceremonial  occasions,  and 
out  of  respect  to  this  knowledge  I  had 
been  advised  by  Sir  Rennell  Rodd  to 
take  a  dress  suit  for  presentation  to  the 
court,  and  this  I  donned  at  nine  in  the 
morning  and  in  it  rode  the  mile  and  a 
half  or  two  miles  separating  the  British 
compound  from  the  Gebi. 

When  these  visits  have  been  com- 
pleted Menelek  gives  much  detailed  at- 
tention to  the  buildings  and  the  meager 
workshops  which  his  East  Indian  em- 
ployes have  set  up  for  him. 

His  capital  city  contains  huts,  large 
and  small,  which  may  lodge  a  population 
of  about  ten  thousand.  A  considerable 
part  of  this  city  is  still  of  canvas. 

The  extremely  cold  nights,  with  a 
temperature  sometimes  as  low  as  forty 
degrees  Fahrenheit,  after  a  day  of  one 
hundred  degrees  in  the  shade,  have 
caused  the  Abyssinian  on  this  high 
plateau  to  want  some  shelter. 

My  Somali  servants,  who  suffered  far 
more  than  the  plateau  people,  were  with 
difficulty  forced  to  put  up  tents  which  I 
had  provided  for  them,  their  life-long 
habit  of  sleeping  in  the  open  air  being 
hard  to  break. 

The  difficulty  of  obtaining  firewood 
will  probably  necessitate  the  moving  of 
the  capital  within  the  next  fifteen  or 
twenty  years.  As  there  are  no  roads,  a 
wheeled  vehicle  being  unknown,  fire- 
wood must  be  brought  in  by  hand  from 
the  surrounding  forests;  and  as  the 
nearby  timber  is  destroyed,  this  diffi- 
cult)7  will  soon  become  one  of  great 
moment. 

Several  deep  ravines  cut  the  town  into 
three  or  four  sections,  and  in  the  rainy 
season  these  sections  are  permanently 
separated  from  each  other,  bridges  not 
being  attempted. 

In  the  whole  kingdom  I  think  there 
are  three  permanent  bridges.  One  of 
these  is  over  the  Hawash,  which  must 
be  crossed  in  order  to  reach  Harar  and 
the  coast.  This  bridge  was  built  under 


ABYSSINIA — THE    COUNTRY   AND    PEOPLE 


97 


the  direction  of  M.  Ihlg.  Two  other 
bridges,  of  stone,  one  of  which  I  crossed 
north  of  the  Blue  Nile,  were  constructed 
years  ago  under  the  direction  of  some 
Greek  priest. 

The  Abyssinian  seems  quite  unable 
to  follow  the  lead  of  any  such  work  and 
is  capable  of  only  the  most  rudimentary 
accomplishments  in  mechanical  arts;  he 
can  work  a  pretty  good  saddle  of  wood, 
he  fashions  a  fair  piece  of  metal  into  a 
sort  of  spear,  and  he  can  make,  as  al- 
ready described,  a  tolerably  tight  hut, 
without  a  chimney,  and  weave  a  loose, 
rather  comfortable,  cotton  or  woolen 
garment. 

The  paltr}'  ornaments  which  are  found 
in  the  market  places  are  not  better  than 
many  that  some  of  the  typical  African 
tribes  can  make. 

Nevertheless  the  pure-blooded  Abys- 
sinian shows  his  Arabic  origin,  as,  in 
spite  of  this  very  low  development  in 
the  mechanical  arts,  he  stands  head  and 
shoulders  above  all  ordinary  African 
people  in  the  development  of  his  lan- 
guage and  his  religious  ideas. 

Except  when  dealing  with  the  black 
tribes  whom  he  has  subjected,  Menelek 
carries  on  the  business  of  his  govern- 
ment by  written  orders  in  the  Amharic 
language*,  the  common  spoken  medium. 
It  is  of  Semitic  derivation,  as  is  also  the 
language  of  their  holy  books,  now  ex- 
tinct save  in  some  remote  parts  of  the 
province  of  Tigre.  This  ancient  lan- 
guage is  known  as  Geez,  and  in  it  those 
books  of  the  Bible  with  which  they  are 
most  familiar  are  preserved.  It  is  to 
be  remembered  that  these  people  were 
Christians  when  our  forefathers  were 
painted  blue  and  worshipped  Thor  and 
Woden.  A  shipwrecked  priest  from 
Alexandria  somehow  made  an  easy  con- 
vert of  the  reigning  king  about  the  year 
330  A.  D. 

The  country  is  dotted  with  big  round 
mud  huts,  which  are  churches.  The 
priestly  order,  although  vastly  ignorant, 
is  not  without  power.  They  inculcate, 


doubtless  in  good  faith,  many  supersti- 
tions, but  with  it  all  are  firm  believers 
in  the  principal  tenets  of  the  Christian 
doctrine. 

I  found  by  inquiring  of  a  priest  in  a 
small  far-away  village  that  he  was  un- 
able to  read  the  sacred  books  which  he 
sold  to  me.  He  said  that  was  the  busi- 
ness of  the  high  priest. 

Rude  paintings  are  found  on  the  par- 
titions inside  the  churches,  represent- 
ing various  saints,  cheek  by  jowl  with 
such  dignitaries  of  the  Abyssinian  social 
order  as  had  contributed  to  the  making 
of  the  church.  The  artists  are  not  typ- 
ical Abyssinians.  In  considerable  part, 
so  I  was  told,  the  work  of  the  churches 
is  done  by  the  Falasha,  remnants  of  a 
Jewish  tribe  still  stubbornly  living  apart 
and  maintaining  the  Jewish  creed  and 
considering  themselves  defiled  by  con- 
versation with  Abyssinians. 

No  one  can  doubt  that  Jewish  influ- 
ence was  at  one  time  very  great  in  this 
territory,  and  it  seems  to  me  highly  prob- 
able that  Frumentius,  who  converted  the 
Abyssinians  to  Christianity,  may  have 
found  his  task  the  easier  because  of 
some  perverted  knowledge  of  the  Jewish 
prophets. 

At  a  later  date,  about  the  year  1000, 
a  Jewish  princess,  Judith  by  name,  es- 
tablished her  family  on  the  throne,  which 
held  sway  for  something  like  200  years. 

Altogether  it  may  be  said  that  the 
origin  of  the  Abyssinian  people  fully 
warrants  the  Arabic  word  "  Habeshi," 
from  which  we  have  our  word  "Abys- 
sinia," and  which  means  mixed. 

It  is  possible  that  before  the  Semitic 
invaders  settled  in  this  fertile  land  some 
small  influence  from  the  great  Egyptian 
civilization  around  the  mouth  of  the  Nile 
had  been  pushed  up  and  up  along  the 
stream,  through  the  desert,  to  where  it 
must  have  been  merged  with  the  native 
element,  presumably  black,  then  holding 
the  soil.  I  feel  convinced  that  this  in- 
fluence must  have  been  small,  because  of 
the  very  great  difficulty  with  which  in- 


98 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


tercour.se  could  have  been  maintained 
between  this  upper  region  and  lower 
Eg\  pt.  For  a  thousand  years  the  Abys- 
sinians  were  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the 
world,  and  maintained  the  Christian 
doctrine  as  implanted  by  Frtimentius. 

Then  came  a  period  of  contact  with 
the  Church  of  Rome,  through  the  efforts 
of  Portuguese  missionaries  and  soldiers, 
at  a  time  when  that  brave  little  kingdom 
sent  its  intrepid  sons  to  every  quarter  of 
the  globe.  This  missionary  effort,  how- 
ever, added  a  very  bloody  chapter  to 
the  history  of  Abyssinia,  and  finally  all 
white  men  were  expelled,  and  again  the 
gates  were  closed,  and  a  period  of  some- 
thing like  i. so  years  elapsed  before  any 
further  knowledge  was  had  of  things 
Abyssinian. 

Since  that  time  travelers  have  given 
very  complete  accounts  of  the  country 
and  its  people  ;  the  touch  with  Europe 
has  been  again  made  intimate  and 
bloody, through  the  efforts  of  the  Italians 
to  extend  their  power  over  Abyssinia. 

This  effort  closed  in  the  terrible  trag- 
edy at  Adowa,  where  the  flower  of  the 
Italian  arm}'  was  destroyed  by  Menelek's 
hosts.  In  spite  of  the  errors,  which  it 
is  easy  now  to  mark,  in  the  conduct  of 
the  Italian  army,  I  feel  very  strongly 
that  the  Adowa  campaign  must  have 
more  nearly  represented  the  probable 
outcome  of  any  other  European  effort 
against  united  Abyssinia  than  did  the 
Magdala  campaign  which  the  British 
conducted  in  1867.  Theodore,  the  em- 
peror, after  years  of  factional  strife,  was 
bereft  of  nearly  all  his  followers  when  a 
British  force,  consisting  of  13,000  men 
and  7,000  camp-followers,  took,  with- 
out the  loss  of  a  single  life  in  action,  the 
stronghold  in  which  he  had  been  left  by 
his  own  people. 

Attached  now  to  the  British  agency 
as  a  sort  of  pensioner  is  a  certain  Irish- 
man, wholly  Abyssinianized,  who  was 
one  of  the  servants  of  these  imprisoned 
officers  whom  the  great  army  at  Mag- 
dala released.  He  was  pointed  out  to 


me  by  Colonel  Harrington  as  represent- 
ing something  like  ,£2.000,000  to  the 
British  Government,  that  being  the  pro 
rata  cost  of  saving  the  lives  of  Theo- 
dore's captives.  He  cannot  be  disposed 
of  at  cost  price. 

Due  to  the  trouble  which  the  white 
man  seems  to  have  brought  into  his 
country,  Menelek  has  been,  for  one  so 
eager  to  tread  the  path  of  civili/ation, 
rather  slow  to  give  permanent  hold  to 
white  interests.  The  concession  to  the 
railway  people  was  a  marked  departure, 
and  subsequently  the  concession  to  some 
English  mining  people  for  work  in  west- 
ern Abyssinia  marks  another  step  toward 
progress  and  national  destruction. 

Menelek  is  indeed  at  the  parting  of 
the  ways,  and  all  the  while  is  earnestly 
seeking  the  betterment  of  his  people  as 
well  as  his  own  glory.  I  believe  he  is 
leading  them  to  the  brink  of  destruction. 
Such  are  the  ways  of  the  Omnipotent  in 
bringing  about  the  spread  of  what  we 
call  civilization,  to  drink  of  whose  cup 
is  to  the  barbarian  to  drink  of  poison. 
What  will  happen  when  Menelek  dies, 
nobody  knows.  If  some  strong  man  of 
the  "  Abyssinia -for- the- Abyssinians  " 
variety  can  grasp  the  reins,  the  auton- 
omy of  the  country  may  yet  be  main- 
tained for  a  long  while,  and  together 
with  it  the  ignorance  of  the  people. 

Their  Christianity  sits  upon  them 
lightly,  as  I  found,  for  example,  in  re- 
spect to  the  institution  of  polygamy. 

Menelek  himself  sets  an  example  of 
monogamy,  having  one  wife,  who  is  a 
woman  of  considerable  influence  and  of 
very  good  heart.  But  -many  others  have 
not  received  that  part  of  the  Christian 
doctrine  which  forbids  more  than  one 
wife  and  live  more  or  less  happily  with 
several  wives  in  the  same  household. 

SLAVERY  IN  WESTERN  ARYSSINIA. 

In  respect  to  polygamy's  monster 
twin,  namely,  slavery,  many  of  the 
Abyssinians  are  quite  ready  themselves 


ABYSSINIA— THE    COUNTRX  AND    PEOPLE 


99 


to  capture  slaves  from  the  inferior  and 
more  lowly  developed  tribes  as  well  as 
to  hold  them  in  slavery  when  caught  by 
some  one  else.  Theoretically,  there  is 
no  slave  trade  in  Abyssinia,  and  in  fact 
it  is  pretty  well  controlled.  In  the  region 
which  I  traversed,  where  no  whites  had 
preceded  me,  there  were  still  one  or  two 
slave  markets,  and  I  rather  expected  to 
see  the  trade  going  on  openly  ;  but 
Menelek's  lieutenants  know  that  he  has 
engaged  with  European  powers  to  put 
down  the  slave  trade.  They  were  there- 
fore surprised  that  I  had  been  permitted 
to  enter  that  part  of  the  kingdom  where 
the  traffic  is  still  maintained. 

When  I  asked  where  I  could  buy  two 
or  three  boys,  one  of  the  chiefs,  who 
had  escorted  me  for  several  days,  good 
naturedly  said,  ' '  You  white  people  have 
stopped  that,  but,"  he  said,  "  there  are 
robbers  from  whom  you  may  buy  on  the 
sly,"  and  indeed  at  Wombera  a  small 
boy  was  offered  at  my  tent  for  37  Maria 
Theresa  dollars,  equivalent  to  about 
half  that  sum  in  our  money. 

There  were,  however,  no  public  offer- 
ings, although  I  chanced  upon  the 
market  day,  but  the  chiefs  had,  so  my 
interpreter  informed  me,  given  orders 
that  no  public  traffic  should  take  place. 

Indeed  the  presence  of  a  white  man 
on  the  market  ground  stampeded  the 
whole  performance,  not  through  fear, 
but  through  curiosity.  There  were 
perhaps  three  or  four  hundred  people 
gathered  together  for  bartering,  and  the 
whole  of  them — the  last  man,  woman, 
and  child — arose  and  followed  and 
pressed  upon  myself  and  assistant  as 
we  walked  about,  but  apparently  with 
no  ill-humor. 

The  night  before  the  natives  had  re- 
fused to  sell  us  food,  but  finding  no  harm 
come  of  our  presence  they  changed  their 
tactics  and  I  was  able  to  obtain  one 
chicken  and  twelve  eggs  for  three  blue 
beads.  Eggs  are  not  eaten  by  the  na- 
tives. Careful  inspection  of  their  stores 
is  therefore  necessary. 


The  next  day  we  met  a  long  caravan 
of  slaves  marching  up  from  the  country 
south  of  the  Nile.  The  caravan  seemed 
to  belong  to  a  rather  striking-looking 
woman,  who  was  the  wife  of  a  great 
Abyssinian  personage  dwelling  far  to 
the  north.  She  and  her  lieutenants  had 
been  inShankali  Land  and  had  obtained 
(by  purchase,  let  us  presume)  a  goodly 
number  of  black  fellows.  These  are 
offered  for  sale  by  some  bold  neighbor 
or  relative.  Where  these  slaves  were 
seen  by  me  in  service  around  Monkorer, 
which  is  a  considerable  town,  and  in  the 
smaller  villages  westward,  there  was 
nothing  of  brutality  or  special  hardship 
of  any  kind  apparent  in  their  surround- 
ings. 

We  passed  through  a  section  of  coun- 
try not  yet  thoroughly  subdued  by  the 
Abyssinians  and  inhabited  sparsely  by 
the  very  people  from  whom  the  slaves 
were  drawn.  How  far  these  very  low 
savages  prefer  the  debasement  in  which 
nature  holds  them  when  free  to  the  con- 
ditions created  for  them  by  superior 
masters,  I  cannot  state  The  fact  is  that 
a  wide  gap  exists  between  them  and  t  heir 
Abyssinian  lords,  and  that  the  physical 
surrounding  of  the  Shankali  when  with 
the  Abyssinian,  crude  as  all  that  sur- 
rounding may  seem  to  us,  is  far  less 
crude  than  that  which  he  creates  for 
himself. 

Those  who  finally  accept  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  Abyssinian  are  not  sub- 
ject to  slave-raiding,  but  are  permitted 
to  live  peaceably  enough  in  their  own 
fashion  at  the  expense  of  some  small 
tribute  to  the  Abyssinian  lord. 

The  dominion  of  the  Abyssinian 
power  is  now  established  as  far  west  as 
Wombera,  where  I  left  the  most  wes- 
terly Abyssinian  post  and  descended  to 
the  Nile  plains  below. 

The  whole  region  beyond  has  been 
terribly  swept  by  war  and  slave-trading. 
It  is  yet  without  government,  although 
there  is  a  merely  nominal  sovereignty 
claimed  by  Menelek.  As  a  matter  of 


ioo        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


fact,  each  village — and  there  were  two — 
seemed  to  stand  entirely  alone.  The 
people  hid  away  from  before  my  small 
caravan,  and  I  had  very  great  difficulty 
in  obtaining  guides.  While  in  Abys- 
sinian territory  these  guides  had  been 
impressed  by  force  or  blows  when  nec- 
essary and  at  the  command  of  the  Abys- 
sinian dignitary  who  accompanied  me. 

When  I  wanted  to  descend  to  the 
gorge  of  the  Nile,  the  fine  old  gentle- 
man, who  was  chief  of  the  region,  or- 
dered some  of  the  local  natives,  Agaa 
by  name,  armed  only  with  spears,  to  go 
down  with  me,  his  own  soldiers  some- 
how not  wanting  to  make  the  venture. 

The  river  bottoms  were  said  to  be 
filled  with  warlike  Shankali,  armed 
with  spears  and  poisoned  arrows,  and 
who  had  been  forced  to  these  narrow 
confines  by  lack  of  food,  as  along  the 
river  they  could  get  an  occasional  hip- 
popotamus and  live  upon  that  for  a  long 
time.  My  native  escort  was  absolutely 
cowardly  and  got  into  a  blue  funk  over 
the  few  footprints  that  appeared  near 
the  river,  and  I  had  to  promise  to  pro- 
tect them  with  four  of  my  own  men, 
but  insisted  that  they  should  show  us 
the  way.  The  Shankali  appeared  only 
on  the  far  side  of  the  river,  just  a  few 
black,  naked  fellows,  who  made  a  great 
pow-wow,  and  were  evidently  wholly 
unequal  to  the  task  of  attacking  four  or 
five  rifles  and  six  or  eight  spears.  More- 
over, they  were  paralyzed,  as  in  every 
other  case  in  which  I  met  such  low 
people,  by  the  sight  of  white  men. 

One  village  chief,  after  getting  his 
people  around  my  camp  in  such  num- 
bers as  to  worry  my  followers  somewhat, 
but  in  wholly  insufficient  numbers  to 
have  made  any  successful  trouble  with 
my  whole  body,  which  consisted  of 
eighteen  well-armed  men,  finally  came 
down  in  utmost  submission  and  declared, 
as  nearly  as  I  could  make  out  from  the 
five  interpreters  arranged  in  tandem, 
that  I  was  a  god  and  could  eat  him  up 
if  I  chose. 


This  middle  territory  will  soon  !><• 
signed  in  part  to  Abyssinia  and  in  part 
to  the  Sudan.  That  part  assigned  to 
the  Sudanese  authority,  which  means 
the  British,  will  soon  have  some  new 
life  built  out  of  the  remains  of  a  deva-^Ui- 
tion  as  complete  asranything  imaginable. 
The  Abyssinian  portion  will  live  along 
its  barbaric  fashion  with  some  small 
development. 

The  status  of  the  black  and  naked 
Shankali  will  be  slightly  raised,  and  at 
least  the  country  will  be  so  well  ordered 
by  the  power  of  Abyssinian  soldiers  that 
further  investigation  by  white  men  may 
in  the  future  be  easily  carried  on  there. 

But  the  Abyssinian  himself  is  not,  in 
my  judgment,  ready  for  civilization  as 
we  measure  civilization,  though  the 
upper  classes  already  have  much  of  the 
manner  of  the  polished  eastern  people 
without  having  the  material  richness  that 
Asiatic  civilizations  have  produced. 

The  Abyssinian  is  individually  rather 
an  independent,  easy-living,  battle-lov- 
ing, raw-meat-eating,  sensual,  devil- 
may-care  chap;  but  one  must  guard 
against  giving  any  definition  or  descrip- 
tion which  shall  be  taken  as  universal  in 
its  application.  This  is  rendered  par- 
ticularhr  inappropriate  when  one  recalls 
the  varying  types  from  the  well-chis- 
eled Arab:c  and  Jewish  down  to  the 
coarse  negroid  caused  by  all  degrees  of 
miscegenation. 

Their  laziness,  their  fondness  for  back- 
sheesh,  their  inaccuracy,  and  their  pride, 
puffed  up  by  the  defeat  of  the  Italians ; 
their  ignorance  of  what  we  know  to  be 
our  immense  superiority — all  this  for  a 
time  irritates  the  traveler,  but  in  the  end 
there  is  left  rather  a  pleasant  impression 
of  kindness. 

As  is  generally  the  case,  the  Abys- 
sinians  who  have  seen  most  of  Europeans 
are  not  those  whom  Europeans  would 
like  most  to  see. 

I  should  be  quite  willing  to  trade  with 
bars  of  salt,  which  constitute  the  chief 
currency  from  Addis  Abeba  westward 


ABYSSINIA — THE   COUNTRY   AND    PEOPLE         101 


north  ward,  and  south  ward,  or  with  beads 
or  with  empty  tin  cans,  all  of  which 
served  my  purpose  in  various  places, 
rather  than  to  have  the  convenience  of 
using  the  Maria  Theresa  or  the  Menelek 
dollar,  which  coins  are  now  quite  readily 
taken  along  the  caravan  routes  from 
Addis  Abeba  to  the  east. 

Rather  this  inconvenience  of  crude 
methods,  with  the  greater  simplicity 
and  straightforwardness  of  the  untu- 
tored native,  than  the  coarse  cunning 
which  begins  to  appear  when  the  native 
begins  to  suspect  and  compete  with 
the  superiority  of  the  white  man  and 
to  truckle  only  to  one  thing,  namely, 
backsheesh, 

THE  FUTURE  OF  ABYSSINIA. 

Today  Menelek  and  the  Sultan  of 
Morocco  control  the  only  two  territories 
independent  of  actual  occupation  or  dip- 
lomatic claim  on  the  part  of  some  Euro- 
pean power.  As  between  these  powers, 
this  division  has  been  made  without 
bloodshed,  and  is  a  notable  triumph  for 
diplomacy  ;  and  I  believe  that  the  Euro- 
pean domination  of  African  territories 
may  be  counted  as  blessed,  for  certainly 
those  territories  which  have  passed  be- 
yond the  first  paroxysms  of  savage  re- 
sistance now  show  larger  and  more 
comfortable  populations  than  existed 
under  native  rule  and  misrule.  This  is 
not  set  forth  as  an  apology  for  the  grasp- 
ing of  territories  held  by  lower  races, 
since  our  ethical  standard  is  not  well 
enough  determined  for  application  to 
these  cases,  and  since,  moreover,  the 
graspingcontinues  to  take  place,  whether 
we  count  it  as  right  or  wrong. 

The  ultimate  determination  of  the 
Abyssinian  and  Morocco  territories  will 
put  a  much  more  severe  strain  upon  dip- 
lomacy than  it  has  yet  been  called  upon 
to  bear  in  regard  to  African  affairs. 
The  population  now  in  occupancy  of  the 
territory  is  in  both  cases  far  above  the 
average  of  African  intelligence,  and  in 


one  case  community  of  religious  form 
with  European  countries  will  tend  to 
complicate  the  situation,  in  that  the  mis- 
sionary cannot  appear  so  opportunely  as 
a  casus  belli.  However,  to  overcome 
that  difficulty,  we  may  convince  our- 
selves that  the  Christianity  of  the  Abys- 
sinians  is  not  quite  the  correct  style, 
and  may  thus  approximate  this  case  to 
others  in  which  the  itching  palm  is 
stretched  forth  as  if  in  prayer. 

Here  again  let  me  say  that  it  is  not  my 
desire  to  criticise  miasionary  methods. 
To  me,  believing,  as  I  do,  that  the  uni- 
verse is  absolutely  law-ordered,  even  to 
the  lifting  of  a  finger,  the  blood-thirsty 
missionary  appears  to  be  as  solemn  and 
as  necessary  a  part  of  the  scheme  of  the 
universe  as  any  other  part. 

Quite  as  convenient  .perhaps  even  more 
so,  than  the  missionary  as  a  casus  belli  is 
the  railway — that  is,  the  railway  of  civ- 
ilized man  laid  in  barbarian  country. 
Not  only  may  it  furnish  the  cause  of 
war,  but  it,  of  course,  immensely  simpli- 
fies the  problem  of  carrying  out  the  war 
which  it  ma>'  have  produced.  While 
the  French,  together  with  the  English, 
Italians,  and  Russians — the  four  nations 
which  have  sent  emissaries  to  Mene- 
lek— are  doubtless  of  the  firm  convic- 
tion that  this  is  not  the  time  for  war- 
making,  that  the  enlightened  peace  of 
Menelek  serves  best  all  purposes  which 
can  now  be  served,  it  remains  that  when 
disorders  «-f  any  sort  arise,  if  the  railway 
may  have  then  been  completed  up  to  the 
top  of  the  Abyssinian  plateau,  the  French 
will  have  obtained  a  very  great  advan- 
tage for  the  playing  of  such  part  as  the)- 
may  then  choose. 

An  extension  of  the  British-Egyptian 
Railway  up  the  Nile,  now  stopping  at 
Khartum,  may  be  made  without  great 
difficulty  along  the  route  which  I  fol- 
lowed, and  which  I  pointed  out  in  a 
paper  about  to  appear  in  the  Journal  of 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society  of  Lon- 
don. Such  extension  would  practically 
equate  advantages  in  respect  to  transpor- 


IO2        THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


tation,  if  we  consider  only  a  contest  be- 
tween either  France  or  England  on  the 
one  side  and  Abyssinia  on  the  other  ; 
but  if  these  great  Powers  were  them- 
selves at  war,  then  the  naval  supremacy 
of  England,  operating  from  a  great  for- 
tified sub-base  such  as  Aden,  would  prob- 
ably control  and  paralyze  the  Jibuti 
terminal  of  the  French  railway. 

But  taxed  as  is  Great  Britain  now,  it 
does  not  seem  probable  that  this  5OO-mile 
extension  will  be  undertaken  at  a  very 
early  date.  So  far  as  the  peace  of  the 
civilized  world  and  the  continued  inde- 
pendence of  the  Abyssinian  are  con- 
cerned, it  seems  probable  that  a  continu- 
ation of  the  state  of  unpreparedness  on 
the  part  both  of  France  and  England 
should  serve  best  these  ends  of  peace. 
To  subsequently  maintain  at  about  equal 
point  of  advantage  the  facility  which 
either  of  these  great  nations  mi^ht  have 
for  making  war  upon,  with,  or  through 
the  Abyssinians  would  prolong  the  na- 
tional life  of  this  interesting  people,  who 
occupy  in  barbaric  style  one  of  those 
splendid  stretches  of  the  earth's  surface 
which  must  ever  tempt  the  daring  Euro- 
pean, driven  forth  as  he  is  by  a  blind 
racial  instinct — driven  forth  to  combat 
and  to  push  away  the  specter  that  Mal- 
thus  raised. 

Could  you  have  been  with  me  in 
marching  over  the  devastation  marking 
the  as  yet  unconquered  Bollasa  region 
into  the  Sudan,  where  only  a  few  months 
before  the  blood  of  the  dying  calipha 
had  cemented  the  foundations  of  peace ; 
could  you  have  seen  there  the  small  but 
happy  beginnings  of  well-ordered  vil- 
lages and  the  contented  submission  of 
these  black  and  wayward  children  of  the 


desert  and  their  obedience  to  the  firm, 
wise  rule  of  the  English  officer,  recall- 
ing the  unchanging  story  of  almost  un- 
ending tribal  war,  you  would  feel  very 
nearly  convinced  that,  if  indeed  peace 
and  order  be  good  for  the  lowly  devel- 
oped peoples  of  the  world,  this  good 
will  be  earliest  attained  by  the  sacrifice 
to  some  such  great  policing  power  as 
Great  Britain  of  an  independence  which 
ever  has  meant  native  tyranny. 

But  we  must  remember  also  that  dis- 
asters which  read  terror  into  our  blood 
but  furnish  in  part  the  needed  excite- 
ment to  give  some  value  to  the  crusta- 
cean lives  of  these  rude  people. 

Passing  one  day  through  the  ruins  of 
a  village  marked  by  broken  pottery  ves- 
sels and  grinding-stoues,  my  grinning 
guide  explained  that  here  he  had  lived 
some  few  years  ago;  the  village  had 
been  attacked  by  Mahdists  or  slave- 
traders,  he  seemed  scarcely  to  know  or 
care  which,  and  he  had  lost  his  hut, 
three  wives,  and  one  or  two  children, 
himself  escaping  into  the  close-pressing 
bush.  "  But,"  said  he,  with  the  philoso- 
phy which  made  me  poor  in  his  compar- 
ison, "I  now  have  another  hut,  other 
wives,  and  other  children,"  and  he 
laughed  good-naturedly.  Absolutely  the 
only  care  at  that  time  in  the  mind  of  this 
simple  savage  was  a  desire  to  get  loose 
from  the  caravan  in  order  that  he  might 
return  to  the  hulk  of  a  hippopotamus 
which  I  had  shot  two  days  before. 
Could  he  but  secure  that  black  carcass 
for  himself  and  his  small  village,  life 
would  have  no  other  cares — today,  to- 
morrow, and  even  next  week  would  be 
provided  for.  Could  more  be  asked  of 
Heaven  ? 


THE   OLD   YUMA   TRAIL 


BY  W  J  McGEE 


SOME  three  to  seven  centuries  be- 
fore Columbus,  the  country  lying 
south  of  Gila  River,  west  of  the 
Sierra  Madre,  and  east  of  the  Califor- 
nian  Gulf  was  occupied  by  an  agricul- 
tural people,  and  the  ruins  of  their  vil- 
lages, the  remains  of  their  irrigation 
works,  and  the  crumbling  fortifications 
of  their  places  of  refuge  on  adjacent 
hilltops — mute  witnesses  of  the  rise  and 
passing  of  a  people — still  survive  in 
numbers.  The  finely  wrought  fictile 
ware,  shapely  stone  implements,  and  ob- 
sidian blades  from  the  ruins  betoken  the 
culture  commonly  known  as  Aztecan 
or  Mexican,  or  better  as  Nahuatlan. 
The  location  and  extent  of  the  house 
remains,  as  well  as  the  traces  of  great 
acequias,  betoken  irrigation  systems 
more  extensive  and  successful  than 
those  of  the  Mexicans  or  Americans  of 
today.  The  vestiges  of  temples  and 
plazas  combine  with  the  symbolic  dec- 
oration of  the  pottery  to  betoken  a  com- 
plex social  organization  resting  on  a 
religious  basis,  while  the  corrals  (each 
with  its  water  hole)  in  many  of  the  vil- 
lages, together  with  some  of  the  picto- 
graphs  carved  on  neighboring  cliffs, 
suggest,  if  they  do  not  attest,  that  a 
llama-like  animal,  the  coyote,  the  tur- 
key, and  perhaps  other  creatures,  were 
domesticated  by  the  villagers.  The 
entrenched  refuges  ("las  trincheras" 
of  the  modern  Mexicans)  are  among 
various  indications  that  the  peaceful, 
pastoral  folk  were  displaced  and  nearly 
destroyed  by  a  predatory  foe  whose 
ruthless  energies  were  directed  against 
irrigation  works  as  well  as  against  fam- 
ilies, farms,  and  flocks,  and  the  testi- 
mony of  the  ruins  is  supported  by  the 
traditions  of  surviving  tribes,  which 
point  to  the  marauding  Apache  as  the 


spoilsman — and  hence  the  hereditary 
enemy — of  the  plains  people.  During 
this  early  agricultural  period  the  scant 
waters  of  the  region  were  where  they 
are  now,  and  were  probably  little,  if 
any,  more  abundant  than  today,  though 
better  conserved  and  distributed  by 
means  of  represos  and  low-gradient 
acequias.  The  village  sites  were  those 
selected  long  after  for  aboriginal  and 
Mexican  pueblos,  with  a  few  others 
never  again  occupied,  while  the  trails 
and  roads,  as  they  were  by  watering 
places  and  impassable  sierras,  must 
have  followed  lines  corresponding  with 
those  of  later  travel.  Among  the  nat: 
ural  routes  fixed  by  water  and  mount- 
tain,  and  still  marked  by  ruins  and 
smaller  relics,  was  that  which  long  after 
became  the  Yuma  trail. 

THE  TIME  OP  TRADITION. 

The  ancient  lore  and  modern  customs 
of  the  Papago  Indians  tell  of  descent 
from  the  prehistoric  irrigators — tell  that 
their  tribal  ancestors  were  among  the 
few  survivors  of  the  prehistoric  pastoral 
folk  who,  driven  into  the  deserts  too  far 
for  foes  to  follow,  were  able  to  adjust 
themselves  to  one  of  the  hardest  environ- 
ments in  America,  to  engage  in  a  cease- 
less chase  for  water  singularly  like  the 
chase  for  quarry  in  lower  culture,  and 
to  produce  a  unique  combination  of 
crop-growing  industries  with  migratory 
habits. 

One  of  the  earliest  havens  of  the  an- 
cestral exiles  was  a  meager  oasis  already 
occupied  by  some  of  them,  though  di- 
vided from  the  customary  Apache  range 
by  a  hundred  miles  of  waterless  desert; 
here  a  tiny  rivulet,  fed  by  the  subter- 
ranean seepage  from  rugged  granite 


104        THE    NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC    MAC.A/INE 


ranges  on  north  and  south,  trickles  per- 
manently over  the  sands  of  a  broad  wash 
occasionally  swept  by  the  freshets  fol- 
lowing storms  in  the  same  mountains; 
here  the  refugees  began  anew  the  de- 
velopment of  tribal  character;  and  here 
began  their  unwritten  Book  of  Leviti- 
cus, following  their  Genesis  and  Exo- 
dus in  curiously  Hebraic  order,  in  their 
Ancient  Sacred  Tales.  Devotees  (like 
other  lowly  folk )  to  the  dark  mysteries 
of  unstudied  nature,  they  had  brought 
their  old  faith  with  them,  but  enshrined 
it  anew  in  their  second  Eden;  carrying 
a  cult  of  the  sea — a  vestige  of  littoral  life 
in  earlier  generations — in  which  they 
worshipped  the  ocean  as  the  infinitely 
potent  Mother  of  Waters,  and  finding 
their  faith  sharpened  fearsomely  by  the 
incomparable  preciousness  of  fluid  in 
these  outer  deserts,  they  enjoined  on 
their  young  men  pilgrimages  to  the 
Gulf  at  its  nearest  point  as  sacramental 
requisites  for  entering  into  the  stage 
and  condition  of  full  manhood;  bringing 
seed  of  maize  and  beans  from  ancestral 
gardens,  they  not  only  planted  but 
cherished  their  crops  with  a  consuming 
watchfulness  growing  into  actual  wor- 
ship, and  finally  giving  name  to  both 
locality  and  tribe — for  oasis  and  river 
came  to  be  known  as  the  Place  of  Corn 
(Sonoyta,  as  commonly  written),  and  the 
tribe  as  Beans  People  (papahoaatam).* 
The  habit  of  eternal  vigilance  on  the 
part  of  the  Papago  of  defense  or  flight, 
according  to  the  strength  of  invading 
parties,  led  to  the  placing  of  outposts 
as  far  east  of  Sonoyta  and  as  near  to 
the  Apache  range  as  might  be  ;  and 
eventually  a  semi-symbolic  outpost  was 
established  at  the  most  conspicuous 
and  impressive  landmark  of  all  Papa- 
gueria — Baboquivari  Peak.  This  sta- 
tion was  supported  partly  by  shamans 
armed  with  magical  devices,  partly  by 
bold  and  athletic  warriors  who  could  be 
trusted  to  traverse  the  hundred  miles  of 

*Cf.  "  Papagneria,"  THE  NATIONAL  GEO- 
GRAPHIC MAGAZINE,  vol.  ix,  1898,  p.  345. 


desert  to  Sonoyta  between  noon-day 
suns;  and  there  is  traditional  evidence 
that  the  granite  walls  of  the  peak — so 
lofty  and  precipitous  that  but  one  Cau- 
casian* has  scaled  them — were  climbed 
and  its  crest  occupied  by  at  least  one 
party  of  tribesmen.  In  time  Baboqui- 
vari became  the  Sacred  Mount  of  all  the 
Papago;  and  as  the  tribe  multiplied  and 
flowed  feebly  back  toward  the  ancestral 
valleys,  the  sacramental  pilgrimage  of 
the  young  men  was  so  extended  as  to 
cover  the  150  miles  from  Baboquivari  to 
the  sea,  with  Sonoyta  as  a  way  station. 
A  half  of  the  path  thus  trodden  by  the 
Papago  pilgrims  from  some  centuries 
before  Columbus  up  to  the  beginning  of 
the  twentieth  century  was  that  retrodden 
by  Caucasians  for  a  century  and  a  third 
as  the  Yunia  trail. 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  CAUCASIAN. 

The  first  foreigners  to  approach  the 
ancient  trail  were  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza 
de  Vaca  and  his  companions  (in  all, 
three  whites  and  one  black),  as  they 
near  the  end  of  the  most  remarkable 
transcontinental  journey  in  the  history 
of  America,  in  the  spring  of  1536;  three 
or  four  years  later  Coronado's  army  also 
approached  and  perhaps  crossed  within 
sight  of  Baboquivari,  and  it  is  practically 
certain  that  a  detachment  of  this  army 
actually  followed  the  footsteps  and  guid- 
ance of  the  Papago  pilgrims  over  a  part 
of  the  trail.  It  was  in  September,  1540, 
that  Captain  Melchior  Diaz  set  out  from 
Coronado's  headquarters  at  Corazones 
(at  or  near  the  site  of  the  present  Ures) 
with  a  force  of  25  men  in  the  hope  of 
intercepting  Alarcon's  fleet  on  the  coast, 
and  so  shaped  his  course  as  to  strike  Rio 
Colorado  a  little  way  above  its  mouth. 
His  route  was  never  mapped,  nor  even 
fully  described  (he  lost  his  life  through 
an  accident  in  the  Colorado  country)  ; 
but  to  one  who  has  traversed  the  region 

*Prof.  R.  H.  Forbes,  of  the  Territorial  Uni- 
versity of  Arizona. 


THE   OLD   YUMA   TRAIL 


in  several  directions,  sifted  the  local  lore 
of  waterpockets  in  the  rocks  and  coyote- 
holes  in  the  sand  washes,  and  traced  the 
routes  of  both  prehistoric  and  present 
travel,  it  seems  clear  that  Diaz'  detach- 
ment worked  northwestward  to  the 
Horcacitas  and  on  to  Rio  San  Ignacio, 
and  thence  across  the  plains  to  Sonoyta, 
where  he  must  have  watered  and  rested 
before  pushing  forward  by  way  of  the 
high  waterpockets  (Tinajas  Altas)  to 
the  great  ' '  River  of  Good  Guidance  ' ' 
(Rio  de  Bono  Guia,  an  early  name  of 
the  Colorado)  ;  and  it  must  have  been 
by  the  same  route  that  the  leaderless 
party  returned  in  January,  1541. 

With  this  expedition  the  third  chap- 
ter in  the  history  of  the  Yuma  trail  ends 
abruptly;  for.through  the  most  astound- 
ing blunder  of  American  geography,  the 
memory  of  Diaz  and  the  records  of  Alar- 
con  and  his  predecessor,  Ulloa,  dropped 
out  of  mind  for  more  than  a  century  and 
a  half  .during  which  the  Californias  were 
mapped  as  a  great  island  in  the  Pacific. 

THE  JESUITS  AND  THEIR  SUCCESSORS. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  era  of  Jesuit  missionizing  in 
Papagueria  opened,  and  not  long  after 
Padre  Kino  and  his  colleagues  struck 
the  tribesmen's  trail  from  Baboquivari 
to  Sonoyta  ;  and  it  was  in  1701  that 
Kino  pushed  westward,  necessarily  by 
way  of  Tinajas  Altas  (which  he  was  the 
first  to  map),  and  rediscovered  Rio  Colo- 
rado, thereby  puncturing  the  bubble  of 
fictitious  geography. 

The  good  padres  were  ideal  pioneers  ; 
wherever  the  Indian  trails  led,  there  they 
followed;  and  wherever  an  Indian  settle- 
ment was  found,  there  they  erected 
crosses  and  sought  converts.  To  them 
the  Place  of  Corn  on  the  slender  rivulet 
was  a  fertile  field.  Some  fifteen  miles 
down  the  sandwash  from  the  principal 
village  they  found  a  smaller  settlement 
gathered  about  a  spring  of  whitish  water 
seeping  from  potash-bearing  granites, 


for  which  they  adopted  the  native  name 
House-ring  Spring*  (Quitobac),  and 
they  set  their  wooden  cross  midway  be- 
tween the  two  settlements  and  called 
the  place  Santo  Domingo. 

As  missionizing  proceeded,  routes  of 
travel  were  opened  from  tribe-range  to 
tribe-range  ;  and  in  the  course  of  a  few 
decades  the  hard  trail  from  Culiacan  (or 
Ures,  or  Chihuahua,  or  Fronteras)  to 
Santo  Domingo,  and  thence  to  the  Yuma 
country  on  the  Colorado  and  on  to  the 
missions  of  California,  became  an  estab- 
lished route  of  travel  and  communica- 
tion. The  palmiest  days  of  the  Yuma 
trail  rose  and  set  in  the  century  1740— 
1840.  It  was  trodden  by  adventurers 
too  poor  to  ride,  yet  too  plucky  to  stay  ; 
it  was  beaten  by  hoofs  bearing  churchly 
equipage  and  royal  commissions  and 
vice-regal  reports  too  precious  to  be  en- 
trusted to  the  crude  craft  then  plying  the 
Pacific  ;  it  was  furrowed  by  the  huge 
hewn-log  wheels  of  Mexican  carts  carry- 
ing families  a  few  miles  a  day,  and  later 
by  the  iron  tires  of  prairie  schooners  and 
primitive  stages  ;  its  borders  were  tram- 
pled by  stock  driven  out  to  enrich  the 
distant  province  of  Alta  California  ;  and 
its  course  was  marked  by  the  pitiful  mile- 
stones of  solitary  graves,  each  with  its 
cruciform  heap  of  pebbles.  During  this 
period  the  hard  route  was  dubbed  "  El 
Caminodel  Diablo  ;  "  and  it  formed  (al- 
ternatively with  the  easier  but  much 

*The  typical  Papago  house  is  of  hemispher- 
ical shape  and  made  of  grass  thatch  attached 
to  a  framework  of  mesquite  saplings  and  aka- 
tilla  stems  ;  it  is  called  ki  or  key.  The  first 
stage  in  building  is  the  erection  of  a  first  course 
of  thatch  in  the  form  of  a  vertical  ring  12  or 
15  feet  in  diameter  ;  this  may  be  occupied  for 
weeks  or  months  before  the  upper  courses  are 
added  to  complete  the  walls  and  forming  the 
roof  ;  it  is  called  ki-to.  Bac  is  one  of  several 
Papago  terms  for  water  or  watering  place,  and 
is  applied  specifically  to  springs.  When  the 
missionaries  found  a  larger  Papago  settlement 
about  a  series  of  mineral  springs  30  miles  south 
of  Sonoyta,  also  called  Quitobac.  they  applied 
a  Spanish  diminutive  to  the  first  found  village, 
and  ever  since  it  has  been  known  as  Quitoba- 
quito. 


io6        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


longer  route  by  way  of  Tubac  and  Tuc- 
son) the  main  overland  tributary  to  "El 
Camino  Real  " — The  Royal  Highway  of 
California. 

The  Jesuits  were  expelled  in  1767;  but 
the  old  Yutna  trail  and  the  old  Califor- 
nia missions  remained  as  monuments  to 
their  enterprise  and  as  means  of  later 
progress. 

With  the  international  friction  presag- 
ing the  Mexican  war,  the  importance 
of  the  ancient  trail  began  to  wane  ; 
with  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo 
in  1848  our  own  argonauts  cast  their 
eyes  toward  the  far-rumored  overland 
route,  and  with  the  gold  fever  of  Forty- 
nine  the  activity  along  the  fitly  named 
Camino  del  Diablo  waxed  again  tempo- 
rarily. The  sharing  of  its  miseries  by 
American  and  Mexican  adventurers  be- 
got sympathy  and  mutual  understand- 
ing, and  opened  enduring  friendships 
which  helped  to  heal  the  international 
breach  and  obliterate  the  scars  of  war- 
fare. Yet  the  transitional  epoch  was  not 
without  painful  episodes ;  the  Crabb 
filibustering  expedition  struck  the  his- 
toric trail  on  their  way  via  Sonoyta,  to 
be  annihilated  at  Caborca  (where  the  old 
church  still  bears  bullet-marks  of  the 
battle)  ;  tradition  tells  of  an  immigrant 
colony  from  Mexico  to  California  follow- 
ing the  ancient  way  to  Tinajas  Altas, 
where  they  were  halted  by  an  evil  con- 
junction of  epidemic  with  international 
complications  to  fill  literal  scores  of 
graves  still  dotting  the  barren  footslopes 
of  the  da7.7.1ing  sierra  ;  and  equally  stir- 
ring events  still  live  in  the  memories  of 
all  older  Arizonians  and  Sonorenses. 

It  was  during  the  gold-fever  renais- 
sance that  the  death-roll  of  El  Camino 
del  Diablo  became  most  appalling,  for 
many  of  the  travelers  were  fresh  from 
humid  lands,  knew  naught  of  the  decep- 
tive mirage  or  the  ever-hovering  thirst- 
craze  of  the  desert,  and  pressed  out  on 
the  sand  wastes  without  needful  prepara- 
tion. The  roll  will  never  be  written  in 
full,  since  most  of  the  unfortunates  left 


no  records,  scores  leaving  no  sign  sav 
bleaching  bones  ;  but  observers  esti ma 
that  there  were  400  victims  of  thirs 
between  Altar  and  Yuma  within  eight 
years,  an  estimate  which  so  conservative 
a  traveler  as  Captain  Gaillard  thought 
fair  after  he  had  "counted  sixty-live- 
graves  in  a  single  day's  ride  of  a  little 
over  thirty  miles." 

THE  BOUNDARY  SURVEYS. 

With  the  Gadsden  purchase  of  1853, 
the  boundary  surveys  already  under  wax- 
received  fresh  impetus,  while  the  be- 
lated argonauts  still  trying  all  possible 
paths  toward  the  new  territory,  whose 
name  was  synonymous  with  gold  for 
a  generation,  were  once  more  tempted 
southward.  So,  even  before  the  survey 
reports  were  published  the  fame  of  the 
route  spread  widely  ;  stories  of  hard 
inarches  over  the  malpais  stretching  out 
from  the  volcano  of  Pinacate,  of  the 
miring  of  outfits  in  the  bottomless  mud 
of  Tule  valley  in  springtime,  of  wagons 
clogged  in  shifting  sands,  of  desperate 
night  marches  under  the  sharp  goads  of 
thirst  and  hunger,  of  rescues  of  thirst- 
crazed  waifs,  of  burials  of  the  bodies 
and  distributions  of  the  goods  of  less 
fortunate  parties — these  and  other  heart- 
rending recitals  were  whispered  afar,  o 
penned  in  friendly  letters,  to  color  the 
lore  of  America's  most  energetic  pioneer- 
ing and  filter  meagerly  (far  too  meagerly 
for  full  history)  into  literature.  The 
ill-repute  of  the  trail  gradually  diverted 
the  overland  travel  to  more  northerly 
routes,  and  when  the  Southern  Pacific 
Railway  pushed  over  the  arid  zone  in 
the  seventies  the  old  route  was  finally 
deserted,  save  by  Papago  pilgrims  in 
the  sacramental  journeys  still  pursued, 
and  by  rare  prospectors  or  hunters. 

The  final  chapter  in  the  history  of  the 
Yuma  trail  touches  only  the  retraversing 
of  the  route  (after  sixteen  years  with- 
out the  passage  of  a  vehicle)  by  the 
International  Boundary  Commission  of 


THE    OLD   YUMA  .TRAIL 


107 


1891-1896,  and  the  erection  of  the  most 
serviceable  series  of  international  bound- 
ary monuments  on  the  western  hemi- 
sphere— massive  pillars  of  cast  iron  or 
solid  pyramids  of  cement-laid  stone — 
each  so  located  that  the  next  monument 
and  the  intervening  country  in  either 
direction  can  be  seen  from  its  site,  while 
the  position  of  each  is  established  with 
respect  to  neighboring  natural  features  by 
published  photographs.  The  boundary 
party  was  of  men  well  known  through- 
out both  countries  ;  the  American  com- 
missioners, Colonel  Barlow,  Captain 
Gaillard,  and  Astronomer  Mosman,  like 
the  naturalist,  Dr.  Mearns,  were  chosen  on 
account  of  previous  achievements,  while 
the  Mexican  commissioners,  Senores 
Blanco,  Gama,  and  Puga,  were  equally 
eminent  representatives  of  the  sister  re- 
public. A  report  worthy  to  serve  as  a 
model  for  future  commissions,  accompa- 
nied by  an  ample  atlas  and  a  portfolio 
of  photo-mechanically  faithful  portraits 
of  the  plains  and  mountains  intersected 
by  the  boundary,  has  been  published 
within  a  few  months,  while  one  of  the 
clearest  pictures  of  the  arid  region  ever 
drawn  is  Captain  Gaillard's  "Perils 
and  Wonders  of  a  True  Desert."* 

The  wheel  ruts  and  mule  tracks  left  by 
the  party  seven  years  ago  are  still  plain 
along  the  trail,  save  where  obliterated 
by  sand-drifts  ;  even  the  tent-pegs,  ash- 
heaps,  half  rusted  cans,  and  empty  pickle 
bottles  still  attest  the  arduous  work  and 

*The  Cosmopolitan  .October,  1896,  pp.  592-605. 


frugal  fare  of  the  commissioners  and 
their  colaborers  ;  for  one  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  desert  is  the  extreme 
sluggishness  of  surface-changing  pro- 
cesses, a  sluggishness  hard  to  realize  by 
those  who  dwell  in  humid  lands. 

After  the  passing  of  the  boundary 
parties,  the  old  trail  remained  untrod- 
den from  Quitobaquito  westward,  except 
by  a  road  supervisor  erecting  guide-posts 
in  the  portion  lying  withinYuma  County, 
and  by  three  horsemen  (an  American, 
a  Mexican,  and  an  Indian)  in  other  por- 
tions, until  November,  1900,  when  it 
was  struck  by  an  expedition  of  the  Bu- 
reau of  American  Ethnology. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  one 
of  the  most  striking  and  picturesque 
routes  of  travel  on  the  continent.  Trod- 
den first  in  a  prehistoric  period  known 
only  through  crumbling  ruins,  then  fol- 
lowed for  half  a  millennium  or  more  in 
votive  journeys  of  Papago  tribesmen — 
the  Bedouin  of  America — it  was  traced 
by  Spaniards  long  before  the  landings 
on  James'  island  and  on  Plymouth 
Rock.  Adopted  by  evangelists  two 
centuries  ago,  it  soon  became  a  line  of 
pioneering,  a  highway  of  colonization, 
an  artery  of  royal  communication  ;  next 
it  was  thronged  by  the  indomitable  army 
of  argonauts  on  their  way  to  open  a  new 
world  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  and 
later  it  lapsed  into  utter  desert,  than 
which  there  is  none  more  forbidding  in 
America. 


To  be  concluded  in  the  April  number. 


THE  SEA   FOGS   OF   SAN    FRANCISCO  * 


FROM  May  to  September  little 
rain  falls  in  San  Francisco,  but 
every  afternoon  great  banks  of 
fog  march  in  from  the  Pacific  and  en- 
wrap the  houses,  streets,  and  hills  in 
their  dense  folds.  Ocean  fogs  as  a  rule 
form  when  cool  air  flows  over  warm 
moist  surfaces  ;  but  in  the  case  of  the 
San  Francisco  sea  fogs  these  conditions 
are  reversed,  for  the  ocean  surface  tem- 
perature is  55°  Fahrenheit,  while  the 
air  temperature  may  reach  80°.  Another 
explanation,  therefore,  of  the  cause  of 
these  fogs  must  be  sought. 

A  glance  at  the  map  (not  reproduced) 
shows  how  ocean,  bay,  mountain,  and 
foothills  are  crowded  together.  East  of 
San  Francisco  stretches  a  valley  450 
miles  long  and  so  miles  wide  and  level 
as  a  table.  In  this  valley  the  afternoon 
temperature  in  summer  is  usually  100° 
or  over.  The  valley  is  connected  by  a 
narrow  water  passage,  the  Golden  Gate, 
with  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the  mean  tem- 
perature of  whose  waters  is  in  this  local- 
ity about  55°.  Thus  within  a  distance 
of  50  miles  in  a  horizontal  direction 
there  is  frequently  a  difference  of  50 
degrees  in  temperature.  At  the  same 
time  in  a  vertical  direction  there  is  often 
a  difference  of  30  degrees  in  an  eleva- 
tion of  half  a  mile.  Well-marked  air 
currents,  drafts,  and  counter-drafts  are 
therefore  prevalent 

The  prevailing  surface  air  currents 
at  this  season  of  the  year  are  strong 
westerly  currents,  but  high  bluffs,  ridges, 
and  headlands  intercept  these  winds  at 
such  an  angle  that  they  are  diverted  to 
and  pour  through  the  Golden  Gate  with 
greatly  increased  velocity.  The  result 
is  that  both  air  and  water  vapor  are  piled 
up  at  this  point.  Mr.  Me  Adie  therefore 

*An  abstract  of  a  paper  contributed  to  the 
HlonthlyWeathrr  Review  for  November,  1900. 
by  Alexander  G.  McAdie,  forecast  official  of 
the  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau  at  San  Francisco. 


concludes  that  the  summer  afternoon 
fogs  of  the  San  Francisco  Bay  region  are 
probably  due  to  mixture,  rather  than  to 
radiation  or  expansion.  They  are  the 
result  of  sharp  temperature  contrasts  at 
the  boundaries  of  air  currents  having 
different  temperatures,  humidities,  and 
velocities.  In  originating  and  directing 
these  air  currents  the  peculiar  contours 
of  the  land  also  play  an  important  part. 

The  fog  outside  the  Heads  may  extend 
over  an  area  10  miles  square  and  reaches 
to  a  height  of  about  half  a  mile.  If  it 
were  solidly  packed  its  bulk  would  thus 
be  50  cubic  miles.  As  a  cubic  foot  of 
the  fog  at  its  average  dew-point  tem- 
perature, 51°  F.,  weighs  4.222  grains, 
a  fair  estimate  of  its  total  weight,  allow- 
ing for  wide  swaths  or  channels  fog 
free,  is  1,000,000  tons.  This  immense 
volume  is  carried  through  the  Golden 
Gate  by  westerly  winds  blowing  22  miles 
an  hour,  from  i  to  5  p.  m.  on  summer 
afternoons. 

The  United  States  Weather  Bureau 
maintains  a  station  on  Mt.  Tamalpais, 
which  is  about  half  a  mile  above  sea- 
level  and  thus  above  the  fog,  another 
in  the  city  of  San  Francisco,  where  the 
fog  converges,  and  a  third  station  at 
Point  Reyes,  the  center  of  origin  of  the 
fog.  Mt.  Tamalpais  is  about  25  miles 
from  Point  Reyes  and  10  miles  from 
San  Francisco. 

The  differences  in  the  temperature 
and  humidity  of  these  three  stations  is 
most  marked.  The  highest  tempera- 
ture recorded  on  the  mountain  during 
the  year  1899  was  96°,  on  July  18;  the 
maximum  temperature  on  the  same  day 
at  San  Francisco  was  66°,  and  at  Point 
Reyes  52°.  That  is,  on  the  mountain 
it  was  30  degrees  hotter  than  in  the 
city  and  44  degrees  hotter  than  at  Point 
Reyes.  The  mean  annual  temperature 
of  the  three  stations  is,  however,  about 
the  same  for  all,  55°,  which  is  also  the 


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114        THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


mean  annual  temperature  of  the  ocean 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  city.  During  the 
summer  months,  owing  to  the  fog,  there 
is  usually  a  cooling  of  at  least  1 1  de- 
grees at  the  lower  stations;  but  in  winter 
naturally  these  conditions  are  reversed, 
the  temperature  near  the  sea  remaining 
higher  than  on  the  mountain.  The 
mean  relative  humidity  at  the  station 
on  Mt.  Tamalpais  was  59  per  cent, 
while  that  at  San  Francisco  was  as  high 
as  83  per  cent.  The  average  hourly 
wind  velocity  for  the  higher  station  is 
also  much  greater  than  that  of  the 
lower  station,  the  maximum  velocities 
recorded  being  respectively  91  and 
47,  and  about  this  proportion  is  main- 
tained throughout  the  year. 

The  Weather  Bureau  officials  in  the 
city  receive  frequent  reports  from  Point 
Reyes  and  Mt.  Tamalpais,  and  thus  are 
able  to  issue  a  daily  chart  showing  the 
extent  and  character  of  the  sea  fog  over 
Drakes  Bay,  the  roadstead,  and  the 
Golden  Gate. 

From  Mt.  Tamalpais  Mr.  McAdie  has 
made  a  special  study  of  fog  conditions. 
His  method  of  obtaining  a  cross-section 
of  the  fog  is  very  ingenious.  A  descent 
from  the  station  to  sea-level  can  be  made 
by  the  train  in  about  fifty  minutes,  a  dis- 
tance of  eight  miles.  A  kite  meteoro- 


graph is  attached  near  the  top  of  an 
open-canopied  car,  insuring  good  cir- 
culation, and  carried  through  the  fog 
in  this  way  a  number  of  times.  From 
the  data  thus  obtained,  a  rough  c: 
section  is  made.  A  typical  pressure 
distribution  accompanying  sea  fogs  has 
been  recognized.  In  general,  a  move- 
ment southward  along  the  coast  of  an 
area  of  high  pressure  in  summer  means 
fresh  northerly  winds  and  high  temper- 
atures in  the  interior  of  the  State,  with 
brisk  westerly  winds  laden  with  fog  on 
the  coast. 

The  illustrations  that  accompany  this 
paper  depict  very  graphically  the  splen- 
dor of  fog  effects.  Figure  i  shows  the 
morning  fog  covering  the  valleys — the 
most  common  type  of  fog.  Figure  2 
shows  a  mass  of  lifted  sea  fog  in  a  state 
of  comparative  rest.  Figure  3  shows 
the  summer  sea  fog  pouring  in  a  mighty 
torrent  through  the  Golden  Gate  and 
submerging  the  neighboring  hills.  Fig- 
ures 4  and  5  show  the  great  billows  of 
the  wind-driven  sea  of  fog. 

To  Prof.  Cleveland  Abbe,  editor  of 
the  Monthly  Weather  Review,  and  to 
Mr.  Alexander  G.  McAdie,  of  San 
Francisco,  the  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC 
MAGAZINE  is  indebted  for  the  photo- 
graphs. 


GEOGRAPHIC    FACTS   FROM    REPORT   OF 
THE   TAFT   PHILIPPINE   COMMISSION 


THE  total  amount  of  land  in  the 
Philippine   Islands  is  approxi- 
mately   73>345.4i5    acres.     Of 
this  amount  it  is  estimated  that  about 
4,940,000  acres  are  owned  by  individ- 
uals, leaving  in  public  lands  68,405,415 
acres.*    The  land  has  not  been  surveyed, 
and  these  are  merely  estimates.     Of  the 

*  The  religious  orders  own  about  400,000  acres. 


public  lands,  there  is  about  twice  or 
three  times  as  much  forest  land  as  there 
is  waste  land.  The  land  is  most  fertile 
and  for  the  greater  part  naturally  irri- 
gated. There  was  a  very  great  demand 
for  this  land,  but  owing  to  the  irregu- 
larities, frauds,  and  delays  in  the  Span- 
ish system,  the  natives  generally  aban- 
doned efforts  to  secure  a  good  title,  and 
contented  themselves  with  remaining 


REPORT   OF   TAFT    PHILIPPINE   COMMISSION 


on  the  land  as  simple  squatters,  subject 
to  eviction  by  the  State.  In  1894  the 
Minister  for  the  Colonies  reported  to 
the  Queen  of  Spain  that  there  were 
about  200,000  squatters  on  the  public 
lands,  but  it  is  thought  by  employees  in 
the  forestry  bureau,  who  have  been  in 
a  position  to  know,  that  there  are  fully 
double  that  number.  In  the  various 
islands  of  the  archipelago  the  propor- 
tion of  private  land  to  public  land  is 
about  as  stated  above,  except  in  Min- 
danao, Mindoro,  and  Palawan,  where 
the  proportion  of  public  land  is  far 
greater. 

The  insufficient  character  of  the  pub- 
lic-land system  under  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment in  these  islands  makes  it  un- 
necessary to  refer  in  detail  to  what  that 
system  was.  As  there  were  no  sur- 
veys of  any  importance  whatever,  the 
first  thing  to  be  done  in  establishing  a 
public-land  system  is  to  have  the  public 
lands  accurately  surveyed.  This  is  a 
work  of  years,  but  it  is  thought  that  a 
system  of  the  laws  of  public  lands  can 
be  inaugurated  without  waiting  until  the 
survey  is  completed.  Large  amounts  of 
American  capital  are  only  awaiting  the 
opportunity  to  invest  in  the  rich  agri- 
cultural field  which  may  here  be  devel- 
oped. In  view  of  the  decision  that  the 
military  government  has  no  power  to 
part  with  the  public  land  belonging  to 
the  United  States,  and  that  that  power 
rests  alone  in  Congress,  it  becomes  very 
essential,  to  assist  the  development  of 
these  islands  and  their  prosperity,  that 
Congressional  authority  be  vested  in  the 
government  of  the  islands  to  adopt  a 
proper  public-land  system,  and  to  sell 
the  land  upon  proper  terms. 

MINERAL  WEALTH  AND  THE  MINING 
INDUSTRY. 

It  is  difficult  at  the  present  time  to 
make  any  accurate  general  statement  as 
regards  the  mineral  resources  of  the 
Philippine  Islands.  There  has  never 


been  any  mining,  properly  so  called,  in 
this  archipelago  up  to  the  present  time. 
The  mining  fields  have  never  been  thor- 
oughly prospected,  and  even  where  very 
valuable  deposits  were  known  to  exist 
they  were  worked,  if  at  all,  in  a  hap- 
hazard and  intermittent  fashion. 

Present  indications  are  that  the  near 
future  will  bring  a  great  change  in  the 
mining  industry.  According  to  the  chief 
of  the  mining  bureau  there  are  now  some 
twelve  hundred  prospectors  and  practi- 
cal miners  scattered  through  the  differ- 
ent islands  of  the  archipelago.  Of  these 
probably  90  per  cent  are  Americans. 
They  are  for  the  most  part  men  of  good 
character.  They  are  pushing  their  way 
into  the  more  inaccessible  regions,  fur- 
nishing their  own  protection,  and  doing 
prospecting  of  a  sort  and  to  an  extent 
never  before  paralleled  in  the  history  of 
the  Philippine  Islands.  The  result  is 
that  our  knowledge  of  the  mineral  re- 
sources of  the  group  is  rapidly  increas- 
ing. When  all  due  allowance  is  made 
for  prospectors'  exaggerations,  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  work  thus  far 
done  has  demonstrated  the  existence  of 
many  valuable  mineral  fields.  The  prov- 
inces of  Benguet,  Lepanto,  and  Bontoc 
in  particular  form  a  district  of  very  great 
richness. 

In  the  province  of  Lepanto,  at  Man- 
cay  an  and  Suyoc,  there  are  immense  de- 
posits of  gray  copper  and  copper  sul- 
phide, and  running  through  this  ore  are 
veins  of  gold-bearing  quartz,  which  is 
more  or  less  disintegrated  and  in  places 
is  extremely  rich.  This  copper  ore  has 
been  assayed,  and  the  claim  is  made  that 
it  runs  on  the  average  8  per  cent  copper, 
while  gold  is  often  present  in  consider- 
able quantities.  The  deposits  are  so  ex- 
tensive as  to  seem  almost  inexhaustible. 

The  Commission  has  been  unable  to 
verify  the  statements  as  to  the  extent 
and  richness  of  these  copper  deposits 
through  its  own  agents,  but  the  au- 
thority for  them  is  such  that  they  are 
believed  to  be  substantially  correct. 


116        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


As  early  as  i8s6-'57  two  concessions 
were  granted  to  the  Cantabro  Philippine 
Mining  Company,  and  an  attempt  was 
made  to  exploit  them  and  market  their 
product.  Rude  methods  of  mining, 
ruder  methods  of  extracting  the  metal, 
and  still  more  rude  and  primitive  meth- 
ods of  transportation,  combined  with 
lack  of  sufficient  capital  and  suitable 
labor,  led  to  the  abandonment  of  this 
attempt,  and  for  more  than  twenty  years 
the  property,  which  in  itself  is  a  small 
claim  upon  the  immense  ledge  above  re- 
ferred to,  has  been  occupied  only  to  the 
limited  extent  required  by  the  Spanish 
mining  laws  to  prevent  the  cancellation 
of  the  concession.  The  officer  at  present 
in  charge  of  the  mining  bureau  charac- 
terizes this  deposit  as  an  "undoubted 
bonanza. ' '  The  main  thing  necessar}' 
for  its  exploitation  is  the  opening  up  of 
a  short  line  of  communication  with  the 
coast. 

Lignites  are  known  to  exist  in  Luzon, 
Bataan  Uhe  island,  not  the  province), 
Mindoro,  Masbate,  Negros,  Cebu,  Min- 
danao, and  other  islands.  Some  of  the 
deposits  are  very  extensive.  As  yet  they 
have  been  worked  only  at  or  near  the 
surface. 

Testimony  is  unanimous  to  the  fact 
that  the  Philippine  coals  do  not  clinker, 
nor  do  they  soil  the  boiler  tubes  to  any 
such  extent  as  do  Japanese  and  Austra- 
lian coals. 

The  extensive  fields  near  Bulacacao, 
in  southern  Mindoro,  are  within  four  to 
six  miles  of  a  harbor  which  gives  safe 
anchorage  throughout  the  year  and 
which  has  water  deep  enough  for  the 
largest  ocean-going  vessels.  Some  of 
the  Cebu  deposits  are  also  conveniently 
situated  with  reference  to  harbor  facil- 
ities. It  is  to  be  confidently  expected 
that  the  coal  will  play  a  very  important 
part  in  the  future  development  of  the 
archipelago. 

The  outlook  as  to  gold  mines  grows 
more  favorable  as  the  operations  of  pros- 
pectors are  extended.  Modern  gold- 


mining  machinery  has  never  been  used 
in  the  Philippines.  Igorrote  miners  in 
the  Benguet  -  Lepanto  -  Bontoc  district 
discard  all  rock  in  which  there  is  not 
visible  a  considerable  quantity  of  free 
gold.  Prospectors  in  this  region  claim 
to  have  located  very  extensive  deposits 
of  low-grade,  free-milling  ore, which  will 
yield  large  and  certain  returns  as  soon 
as  concessions  can  be  secured  and  ma- 
chinery put  in  place.  Unless  the  state- 
ments of  those  who  have  been  working 
in  this  region  are  utterly  false,  it  is  true 
that  very  valuable  deposits  have  been 
located,  and  that  extensive  operations 
will  be  undertaken  as  soon  as  claims 
can  be  granted  and  machinery  placed. 
At  all  events,  it  is  certain  that  the  men 
who  have  located  these  deposits  have 
sufficient  faith  in  them  to  camp  on 
them  and  wait  month  after  month  for 
the  time  to  come  when  they  can  estab- 
lish their  claims. 

Extensive  deposits  of  high-grade  iron 
ore  are  known  to  exist,  but  it  would  seem 
that  their  development  must  be  pre- 
ceded by  the  development  of  the  coal 
fields. 

But  before  any  of  the  mineral  re- 
sources of  the  islands  can  be  developed 
mining  laws  must  be  enacted  and  exist- 
ing claims  settled. 

HARBORS  AND  HIGHWAYS. 

As  may  have  been  expected,  centers 
of  population  and  comparative  wealth 
are  to  be  found  at  the  seaports  and  ter- 
ritories contiguous  thereto,  which  are 
more  or  less  accessible  to  markets  by 
means  of  water  communication  ;  but 
these  favored  localities  are  limited  in 
area  and  their  facilities  for  doing  busi- 
ness are,  with  few  exceptions,  inade- 
quate and  unsatisfactory. 

Although  there  are  numerous  harbors 
dotting  the  coast  line,  there  are  but  few 
that  admit  vessels  of  heavy  draft.  As 
a  rule,  they  are  not  landlocked,  and 
are  more  or  less  exposed  to  the  pre- 


REPORT   OF   TAFT   PHILIPPINE   COMMISSION      117 


vailing  typhoons,  so  that  there  are  fre- 
quently days,  and  even  weeks  during 
which  ships  can  neither  load  nor  un- 
load. 

Large  vessels  entering  the  harbor  of 
Manila,  having  a  draft  of  more  than  16 
feet,  are  now  compelled  to  lie  two  miles 
or  more  offshore.  Those  of  less  draft 
than  this  find  entrance  into  the  Pasig 
River.  The  bay  is  so  large  that  it  feels 
the  full  effects  of  the  winds.  The  only 
method  by  which  large  vessels  anchor- 
ing therein  can  take  on  or  discharge 
cargo  is  by  lightering.  At  best,  and 
when  the  bay  is  calm,  this  is  a  tedious 
and  very  expensive  process,  and  dur- 
ing rough  weather  becomes  impossible. 
Moreover,  during  the  prevalence  of  ty- 
phoons, which  are  not  infrequent,  the 
safety  of  vessels  thus  situated  is  much 
endangered. 

The  cost  of  doing  business  in  this 
port  is  very  great  and  constitutes  a 
very  heavy  burden  upon  commerce. 
Freight  rates  from  Manila  to  Hong- 
kong, a  distance  of  about  700  miles 
only,  are  as  much  and  sometimes  more 
than  from  San  Francisco  to  Hongkong, 
a  distance  of  about  8,000  miles. 

The  Spanish  Government,  more  than 
twenty  years  ago,  formulated  an  elab- 
orate scheme  for  the  construction  of  a 
thoroughly  protected  harbor,  with  suf- 
ficient depth  of  water  to  accommodate 
the  largest  ships,  and  levied  a  special 
tax  on  imports  and  exports  for  the  pur- 
pose of  raising  the  necessary  funds  to 
carry  it  into  effect.  Operations  were 
begun  pursuant  thereto  shortly  there- 
after and  continued  in  a  slow  and  in- 
termittent way  up  to  the  time  of  the 
native  outbreak  of  1896,  with  the  result 
that  about  30  per  cent  of  the  work  con- 
templated was  completed.  Work  upon 
these  plans,  with  slight  modifications, 
has  been  resumed  by  the  Commission, 
which  has  appropriated  $1,000,000  for 
the  purpose. 

There  are  110  navigable  rivers,  roads, 
or  even  permanent  trails  in  the  islands. 


There  are  numerous  water-courses  in 
the  great  islands  of  Luzon  and  Mindanao 
which  have  their  sources  in  the  moun- 
tains of  the  interior  and  flow  to  the  sea 
in  rapid  and  broken  currents.  As  a  gen- 
eral rule,  they  are  inconsiderable  in 
volume  and  are  either  not  navigable  at 
all  or,  if  navigable,  only  for  a  few  miles 
from  their  mouths,  so  that  they  may  be 
eliminated  in  considering  the  question 
of  transportation. 

The  so-called  highways  are  generally 
merely  rude  trails,  which  in  the  rainy 
season,  lasting  half  the  year,  are  simply 
impassable,  and  during  the  dry  season 
are  rough  and  only  available  for  travel 
to  a  very  limited  extent.  As  a  result, 
there  are  few  natives  of  the  interior  who 
have  ever  been  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
towns  in  which  they  live.  The  Com- 
mission has  appropriated  $1,000,000  to 
be  expended  at  once  in  road-building. 

The  Manila  and  Dagupan  Railroad  is 
at  this  time  the  only  line  in  the  entire 
island.  It  was  constructed  by  English 
capitalists  and  has  been  in  operation 
since  1892.  It  has  a  gauge  of  3  feet 
and  6  inches  and  traverses  a  rather  low- 
lying,  fertile  region,  densely  populated. 
It  was  perhaps  improperly  located  in 
the  beginning,  and  crossing,  as  it  does, 
quite  a  number  of  streams  near  their 
mouths,  which  necessitated  much  trestle 
and  bridge  work,  was  expensive  to  con- 
struct. This  expense,  it  seems,  was  in- 
creased by  unnecessary  requirements  of 
the  Spanish  Government.  As  a  result, 
it  appears  to  have  cost  the  company 
about  $60,000  in  gold  per  mile.  It  is  an 
expensive  line  to  maintain  by  reason  of 
the  fact  that  several  of  the  streams,  in 
seasons  of  flood,  overflow  their  banks 
and  inflict  much  damage  upon  the  road- 
bed. But,  whilst  it  has  not  earned  a 
fair  interest  on  the  extravagant  sum 
which  it  cost,  it  has  been  wonderfully 
beneficial  in  increasing  the  population 
and  wealth  of  the  provinces  through 
which  it  runs  and  affords  a  striking  illus- 
tration of  the  enormous  benefits  which 


Evelyn  B.  Baldwin, 

Leader  of  the  Baldwin-Ziegler  North  Polar  Expedition. 


THE    PHILIPPINE    EXHIBIT 


119 


would   accrue   were   railroads  built  in 
other  sections  of  these  islands. 

A  line  has  been  projected  from  Manila 
eastward  and  southeastward,  running 
along  the  shores  of  Laguna  de  Bay 
across  the  island  to  a  port  on  L,amon 
Bay.  This  port  is  said  to  be  the  best 
in  the  islands,  landlocked,  affording 


shelter  in  any  weather,  and  with  a 
depth  sufficient  to  enable  vessels  of 
heavy  draft  to  approach  close  to  shore. 
With  this  line  built,  the  distance  from 
Manila  to  the  United  States  would  be 
shortened  by  about  700  miles.  The  line 
would  pass  through  a  number  of  large 
towns  and  a  rich  and  fertile  country. 


THE   PHILIPPINE    EXHIBIT   AT   THE   PAN- 
AMERICAN    EXPOSITION 

BY   D.  O.  NOBLE   HOFFMANN 


W 


HEN  the  Pan-American  Com- 
mission first  considered  the 
idea  of  a  Philippine  exhibit 
at  the  Buffalo  Exposition,  they  were 
anxious  to  have  on  the  grounds  a  typical 
Filipino  village  inhabited  by  genuine 
natives — men,  women,  and  children. 
After  much  conference  with  the  Govern- 
ment at  Washington,  it  was  shown  that 
the  cost  of  such  an  enterprise  would  be 
between  $150,000  and  $175,000,  a  sum 
greatly  in  excess  of  what  would  have 
been  necessary  in  more  peaceful  times. 
Accordingly,  the  plan  was  declared  not 
feasible.  However,  the  Commission 
was  anxious  to  have  an  exhibit  of 
some  kind,  and  declared  the  sentiment 
of  the  people  demanded  it.  Further 
efforts  resulted  in  the  sum  of  $10,000 
being  appropriated  for  the  purpose.  It 
was  decided  that  such  a  sum  could  only 
procure  purely  ethnological  specimens, 
necessitating  the  barring  out  of  natural 
history  and  other  subjects.  The  ex- 
hibit thus  was  made  to  include  what 
the  people  of  the  Philippine  Islands 
make  with  their  own  hands  or  obtain 
by  purchase  or  exchange. 

The  management  of  the  money  ap- 
propriated was  placed  in  the  hands  of 


the  Smithsonian  Institution,  which  dis- 
patched the  late  Col.  F.  F.  Hilder  to 
the  Philippines  to  collect  the  exhibit. 
His  long  residence  in  the  Philippine 
Islands,  together  with  his  acquaintance 
with  many  of  the  tribes  and  their  dia- 
lects, and  his  knowledge  of  the  condi- 
tions existing  in  the  islands,  coupled 
with  his  scientific  training,  served  to  fit 
him  in  a  superior  degree  for  this  work. 

Colonel  Hilder  certainly  did  remark- 
ably well  under  the  circumstances,  and 
gathered  an  amount  of  valuable  material 
of  great  interest  and  importance  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  He  col- 
lected upward  of  one  thousand  pieces, 
illustrating  every  phase  of  native  life. 
Every  condition  and  station,  every  age 
and  sex,  every  occupation,  pastime,  and 
means  of  warfare,  has  a  place  in  the 
collection. 

Apparently  hats,  swords,  and  canes 
are  the  objects  upon  which  the  Filipinos 
bestow  the  most  pride,  for  there  are 
enough  pieces  of  head-gear  of  various 
makes  to  fill  a  hatter's  shop  ;  enough 
swords,  plain  or  fancifully  carved,  to 
arm  a  regulation-sized  company,  and 
enough  canes  to  stock  the  stands  of  a 
country-fair  mountebank. 


i2o       THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


The  swords  are  of  different  shapes. 
They  are  all  sharpened  to  the  nicety  of 
a  razor.  The  bolo  is  the  prevailing 
weapon.  It  is  very  short,  for  accord- 
ing to  an  old  edict  of  the  Spanish  regime 
the  blade  could  only  extend  from  the 
wrist  to  the  elbow  in  length.  It  is 
enough  to  give  one  an  inspiration  of 
fear.  It  is  used  also  in  cutting  sugar- 
cane, etc.  The  case  is  of  wood  and 
very  often  merely  bound  with  twine,  so 
that  the  wielder  can  strike  through  if 
he  has  not  the  time  to  unsheath  the 
sword.  The  common  bolo  has  a  blade 
of  steel,  a  wooden  handle  and  an  iron 
ferrule,  though  some  have  handles  of 
silver  and  are  far  richer  in  appearance 
and  design.  One  very  formidable  and 
beautiful  weapon  is  the  Kriss  sword. 
This  has  a  wavy-shaped  blade  of  steel, 
the  handle  being  of  wood  wound  with 
native  twine. 

Passing  to  articles  of  more  practical 
use,  one  of  the  first  to  attract  attention 
is  the  "  Luzon,"  a  mortar  used  by  the 
Tagals  as  a  receptacle  in  which  to  loosen 
the  husk  from  rice  grain  by  pounding 
with  a  wooden  pestle.  It  was  the  uni- 
versal use  of  this  article  that  caused  the 
Spaniards  to  give  the  island  of  Luzon 
its  name. 

Then  there  are  looms  and  other  native 
contrivances,  showing  the  manner  of 
making  their  different  cloths — hnsi,jusit 
pina,  cinamay,  etc.  These  cloths  are 
found  in  many  beautiful  colors — pink, 
violet,  orange,  yellow,  blue,  and  black — 
and  some  are  richly  embroidered.  Every 
article  of  domestic  use  is  to  be  seen — 
laundry  tubs  and  boards,  scrubbing 
brushes  made  of  half  of  a  cocoanut  in 
the  husk,  and  brooms  made  of  rice  straw, 
and  that  necessary  household  article,  the 
back-scratcher,  formed  of  a  small  piece 
of  cocoanut  shell  with  serrated  edge, 
laced  with  cotton  thread  to  a  long  bam- 
boo handle.  Very  suggestive  of  the 
popular  song  of  the  day  are  some  sam- 
ples of  goo-goo  soap  bark.  This  bark  is 
especially  adapted  for  washing  the  hair, 


leaving  it  soft  and  glossy,  and  produces 
thick  suds  the  same  as  soap.  Extreme 
care  must  be  taken  not  to  let  it  get  into 
the  eyes. 

The  native  hearth  is  merely  a  rectan- 
gular frame  of  wood  raised  on  four  up- 
rights of  squared  bamboo  ;  the  bottom 
is  formed  by  a  mat  of  woven  splints  of 
bamboo,  the  whole  forming  a  box-like 
construction  in  which  has  been  laid  a 
quantity  of  hardened  earth  composition, 
on  which  the  fire  is  built.  Pieces  of  this 
substance  in  the  shape  of  small  elon- 
gated cones  serve  for  supporting  pots. 
At  the  back  of  the  hearth  and  fastened 
to  the  two  rear  uprights  is  a  piece  of 
bamboo  with  two  long  slots  and  two 
holes  cut  entirely  through,  in  which 
spoons  and  other  utensils  are  placed 
when  not  in  use.  The  three  cooking 
pots  with  this  exhibit  are  of  red  earthen- 
ware and  unique  in  design.  The  spoons 
are  each  made  of  cocoanut  shell  laced 
to  a  handle  by  strips  of  rattan. 

Making  the  fire  on  cold  mornings 
is  the  unpleasant  lot  of  many  Ameri- 
cans. However,  they  ought  not  to 
grumble  after  they  have  seen  the  set  of 
fire-making  instruments  used  by  the 
Filipinos  and  have  had  explained  to 
them  the  laborious  task  of  merely  mak- 
ing a  light.  A  piece  of  bamboo  with  a 
slit  through  the  middle  is  placed  on 
any  convenient  spot,  with  some  bamboo 
shavings  beneath.  Another  piece  of 
bamboo  is  then  rubbed  through  the  slit 
at  right  angles  until  the  shavings  smoke, 
when  the  shavings  are  fanned  into  a 
flame. 

A  model  of  a  native  cocoanut-oil  fac- 
tory forms  one  of  the  most  interesting 
exhibits  of  the  industrial  section.  The 
operator  sits  on  a  cross-beam  and  with 
his  feet  revolves,  by  means  of  two  ped- 
als, a  little  metal  shredder,  which  cuts 
up  the  cocoanut.  The  meat  of  the 
cocoanut  then  moves  to  a  second  worker, 
who  crushes  it  by  means  of  a  roller 
which  he  rolls  back  and  forth  with  one 
hand.  The  meat  thus  crushed  enters  a 


THE    PHILIPPINE    EXHIBIT 


121 


press,  which  not  only  presses  out  the 
milk  and  oil,  but  also  keeps  back  the 
fiber  of  the  shell.  When  the  boat-like 
receptacle  underneath  the  press  is  filled 
with  the  oil,  milk,  and  water,  it  is  drawn 
to  a  fire,  where  the  contents  are  heated 
in  cauldrons  until  the  oil  rises  to  the 
surface  and  is  scooped  off. 

The  farmers  of  the  Philippines  have 
their  peaceful  occupations  well  repre- 
sented. One  will  find  at  the  fair  all 
their  agricultural  implements  and  their 
clumsy,  heavy  plows  and  wagons.  Their 
plows  are  for  the  most  part  made  entirely 
of  wood,  with  the  exception  of  the  share, 
which  is  of  iron.  The  harrow  is  formed 
of  a  number  of  pieces  of  bamboo  held 
together  by  three  transverse  rods  pass- 
ing through  the  pieces  of  bamboo.  The 
teeth  are  formed  of  stubs  of  branches, 
with  cords  and  yoke  attached  for  one 
caribou. 

The  caribou  is  used  in  all  their  farm 
work  and  must  be  quite  a  tractable  ani- 
mal. The  prudent  prospective  immigrant 
to  the  Philippines  may  gain  a  suggestion 
from  a  caribou  sled  which  is  used  in 
muddy  weather  along  the  slimy  roads 
and  in  the  rice  swamps.  This  is  very 
unique  and  will  attract  much  attention 
and  create  comment  on  the  weather 
conditions  prevailing  in  the  Island  of 
Luzon. 

The  Filipino  rice  reaper  is  made  with 
a  handle  of  wood  in  the  shape  of  a  hook 
and  a  blade  of  steel  fastened  on  the 
under  side  of  the  grip.  In  using  this 
implement  it  is  held  in  the  right  hand 
and  the  hook  gathers  in  the  rice  while 
the  knife  cuts  it  in  one  operation. 

Farmers  will  smile  when  they  see  a 
farmer's  costume  such  as  is  worn  by 
the  agricultural  class  among  the  Tagals 
of  Luzon.  It  consists  of  a  shirt  of  husi 
cloth,  a  pair  of  trousers,  and  a  piece  of 
cloth  used  for  carrying  articles  over  the 
shoulder  or  on  the  back. 

That  nature  still  supplies  the  wants 
of  the  Filipinos  to  a  great  extent  is 
shown  by  a  supply  of  fishing  tackle, 


nets,  seines,  shrimp  and  crab  traps. 
Their  fishing  boats  are  called  bancas. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  things  in 
the  fishing  line  is  a  seashell  from 
Tondo,  a  fishing  point  in  the  suburbs 
of  Manila.  The  apex  of  this  shell  is 
sawn  off  to  form  a  mouth-piece,  and  is 
used  by  the  fishermen  to  call  assist- 
ance when  large  schools  of  fish  are 
found. 

In  the  collection  there  is  a  milk  ven- 
der's outfit,  such  as  is  used  in  the  cities 
of  the  Philippines.  The  outfit  consists 
of  a  black  earthenware  jar  hung  in  a 
network  of  rattan  partly  covered  with 
leather,  a  wooden  shoulder  yoke  for 
carrying  the  jar,  a  pitcher  formed  from 
one  section  of  a  large  bamboo,  with  a 
wooden  handle  attached  by  wire,  and 
a  measure  also  formed  from  a  section 
of  bamboo,  branded  with  the  inspection 
and  license  number  of  the  vender. 

Other  trades  are  represented  by  ap- 
propriate exhibits,  as  the  soldering  pan 
and  irons  and  tools  of  native  tinsmiths. 
The  pans  are  made  of  heavy  earthen- 
ware. There  is  a  set  of  native  car- 
penter's tools;  also  a  native  harness- 
maker's  outfit,  with  samples  of  tanned 
leather,  a  set  of  blacksmith's  tools,  and 
a  set  of  mason's  tools. 

The  amusements  and  forms  of  recre- 
ation of  the  Filipinos  also  have  a  place 
in  the  collection.  They  are  evidently 
a  musically  inclined  people,  judging 
from  the  gay  costumes  of  a  native  band 
of  musicians  with  their  instruments — 
mandolin,  flute,  guitar,  violin,  and  'cello. 
In  the  musical  collection  are  a  beautiful 
harp  made  of  two  kinds  of  narras  wood 
and  ebony,  and  an  instrument  supposed 
to  be  a  horn,  made  from  four  sections 
of  bamboo,  each  open  a.t  one  end  and 
closed  at  the  other.  The  sections  are 
inserted  into  one  another  at  right  angles 
and  the  joints  made  air-tight  with  a 
native  gum,  the  last  section  being  fast- 
ened to  the  main  tube  by  rattan.  The 
horn  is  held  horizontally  and  played  in 
the  same  manner  as  a  cornet. 


122         THK   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC    MAGAZINE 


The  Filipinos  have  many  forms  of 
amusements,  but  the  greatest  of  them  all 
is  cock-fighting.  There  is  in  the  Hilder 
collection  a  cock-fighter's  box,  contain- 
ing four  steel  gaffs  to  fasten  on  the 
fighting  cock's  spurs  and  four  leashes 
to  restrict  them  when  not  actively  en- 
gaged. Pompa  cabeza,  a  puzzle  game, 
is  shown.  Natives  in  nearly  every  part 
of  Luzon  play  this  game,  which  is  at- 
tended with  much  betting.  Roulette 
wheels  and  other  games  of  chance  are 
much  in  vogue  throughout  the  islands, 
as  the  collection  shows. 

Foot  ball  must  be  a  popular  game  in 
the  islands,  judging  by  a  ball  which  the 
Filipino  tosses  and  kicks  about.  It  is 
somewhat  different  from  our  regulation 
foot  ball,  being  made  of  a  number  of 


strips  or  splints  of  rattan  tied  in  the 
form  of  a  "Turk's  head  "  knot. 

Forcible  illustrations  of  Filipino  war- 
fare are  fifteen  cylindrical  canisters  of 
native  Filipino  manufacture,  formed  of 
sheets  of  tin  nailed  around  two  cir- 
cular pieces  of  wood  ;  they  are  filled 
with  scraps  of  iron  and  fired  by  insur- 
gents from  smooth-bore  guns  at  very 
short  range ;  and  a  bamboo  cannon 
bound  with  wire,  captured  by  United 
States  troops,  at  Balange  Bataan,  ou 
January  5,  1900. 

The  exhibit  comprises  much  more 
than  can  be  covered  in  a  brief  article.  It 
will  prove  profitable  in  giving  informa- 
tion as  to  commercial  interests,  besides 
giving  new  ideas  and  opinions  concern- 
ing the  Philippines  and  their  people. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


TOPOGRAPHIC  MAPPING  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 

NEARLY  900,000  square  miles,  or 
about  30  per  cent,  of  the  area  of 
the  United  States  have  been  mapped  by 
the  experts  of  theU.  S.  Geological  Sur- 
vey during  the  past  twenty  years.  New 
England,  the  middle  Atlantic  States, 
and  small  sections  of  Wisconsin,  Iowa, 
Louisiana,  and  California  have  been 
mapped  on  the  scale  of  one  mile  to  one 
inch  and  their  elevations  and  surface 
relief  expressed  by  contour  lines  located 
at  intervals  of  5  to  20  feet  vertically. 
Maps  of  large  sections  of  Kansas,  Mis- 
souri, Texas,  and  Virginia  have  been 
made  on  the  scale  of  two  miles  to  an 
inch  and  with  contour  lines  indicating 
vertical  intervals  of  20  to  100  feet. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Wilson,  of  the  Geological 
Survey,  contributes  to  a  recent  number 
of  The  Engineering  News  an  interesting 
statement  of  this  branch  of  work  of  the 
survey  and  explains  its  great  practical 
value.  As  an  example  he  mentions  the 
case  of  the  city  of  Waterbury,  Conn., 
which,  after  spending  $10,000  in  fruit- 
lessly searching  for  sources  of  water 
supply,  learned  on  consulting  the  Gov- 
ernment topographic  maps  of  a  source 
of  good  water  previously  unsuspected. 
The  survey  expends  nearly  $350,000 
annually  in  making  these  maps.  Many 
States  also  appropriate  large  sums  to 
assist  the  work  of  the  survey  in  their 
particular  areas.  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maine,  Alabama,  and  Maryland 
annually  appropriate  $75,000  to  hurry 
the  completion  of  the  mapping  of  their 
territory.  The  expense  of  mapping 
naturally  depends  upon  the  character  of 
the  country.  The  cost  of  mapping  an 
open  country  is  from  five  to  ten  dollars 
a  square  mile  ;  that  of  mountainous  or 
forest  areas  about  double  or  triple  that 
amount. 


The  results  of  these  surveys  are  pub- 
lished on  sheets  approximately  i6>£  by 
20  inches  and  represent  quadrilaterals 
of  15'  or  30'  of  latitude  and  longitude, 
according  as  the  scale  is  one  or  two  miles 
to  the  inch. 

The  atlas  sheets  can  be  procured  at 
purely  nominal  prices  on  application  to 
the  Director  of  the  Geological  Survey. 


THE  GERMAN  CENSUS, 

THE  figures  of  the  last  census  of 
Germany  reveal  some  very  sig- 
nificant facts  relative  to  the  great  indus- 
trial and  agricultural  contest  that  is  now 
being  waged  in  the  Empire.  The  census 
was  taken  on  December  i,  1900.  The 
growth  of  the  cities,  the  industrial  cen- 
ters, during  the  preceding  five  years  has 
been  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  the 
Empire.  Of  the  thirty-three  cities  with 
a  population  of  over  100,000,  every  one 
but  Crefeld  shows  a  great  increase. 
Crefeld  has  decreased  by  350,  owing 
probably  to  the  high  tariff  in  the  United 
States  on  silk  goods,  which  has  caused 
Americans  to  import  only  foreign  silks 
of  the  highest  grade.  As  a  result,  many 
hundreds  of  persons  in  Crefeld  who 
were  formerly  employed  in  the  silk  fac- 
tories were  thrown  out  of  work.  Cre- 
feld manufacturers  have  now  begun  to 
turn  their  attention  to  the  making  of 
cotton  and  woolen  goods,  and  it  is  hoped 
that  the  next  census  will  show  an  in- 
crease, not  a  decrease,  in  the  population. 
Among  the  cities  which  show  the  largest 
increase  is  Berlin,  which  has  added  over 
207,000,  or  12.3  per  cent,  to  the  num- 
ber of  her  inhabitants,  making  her  pres- 
ent population  1,884,345,  not  including 
the  suburban  cities.  Including  her  sub- 
urbs, Berlin  numbers  2,500,000. 

The  city  that  has  increased  most  rap- 
idly is  Nuremberg,  which  in  five  years 


124        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


has  added  98,357,  or  60  per  cent,  in  a 
total  population  of  260,743.  This  is  due 
largely  to  the  situation  of  Nuremberg  at 
the  point  of  junction  of  many  highways 
and  of  seven  railroads.  The  city  of 
Posen  has  increased  by  42,912  since 
1895,  largely  by  the  influx  of  farmers 
and  agricultural  people  from  the  coun- 
try, more  especially  from  Prussia. 

StettMi  now  numbers  209,988  souls, 
an  increase  in  population  of  69,264, 
owing  to  its  position  as  the  seaport  of 
Berlin. 

Hamburg  has  added  79,1 17,  making  a 
population  of  704,069;  Munich,  87,502, 
making  a  total  of  498,503.  Leipsic  has 
gained  55, 126  in  a  present  population  of 
455, 1 20,  Dresden  58,909  in  305,349,  and 
Frankfort  has  increased  58,534,  making 
her  population  287,813. 

These  figures  show  clearly  that  the 
Germans  are  becoming  more  and  more  a 
manufacturing  people.  The  land-owners 
are  becoming  alarmed  and  are  even  dis- 
cussing the  advisability  of  importing 
Chinese  to  work  on  their  farms. 

The  population  of  the  empire  is 
56,345,014,  an  increase  of  about  four 
million,  or  of  7.78  percent  within  five 
years.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  there 
are  nearly  a  million  more  females  than 
males,  whereas  in  the  United  States  this 
proportion  is  reversed. 


EFFECT  OF  SNOWFALL  ON 
WATER  SUPPLY, 

SOME  very  interesting  conclusions 
have  been  published  by  the  experts 
of  the  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau,  who  have 
for  several  years  been  studying  the  effect 
of  winter  snowfall  on  the  water  supply 
of  the  succeeding  summer.  The  obser- 
vations have  been  confined  to  the  arid 
regions  of  the  west,  more  particularly 
Colorado  and  Idaho,  where  the  rivers 
and  streams  derive  their  principal  water 
supply  from  the  melting  of  the  snow  on 
the  mountains. 


The  generally  prevalent  belief  that  a 
winter  of  heavy  snowfall  is  succeeded 
by  swollen  streams  in  spring  and  sum- 
mer is  not  necessarily  correct.  It  is  not 
the  quantity  of  snow  that  falls  during 
the  winter  so  much  as  the  condition  of 
the  soil  when  winter  sets  in,  the  quality 
of  the  snow,  and  the  time  when  it  falls, 
that  determine  whether  streams  shall 
"continue  full  late  in  the  season  and  fur- 
nish abundance  of  water  for  irrigating 
canals.  An  unusually  heavy  snowfall 
in  March  will  certainly  be  followed  by 
drought  in  late  spring  and  summer,  un- 
less this  snow  was  preceded  by  a  snow- 
fall in  the  early  winter.  It  is  the  snow 
that  falls  in  November  and  December, 
and  thus  becomes  packed  hard  during 
the  winter  and  melts  slowly  in  the 
spring  and  summer,  that  keeps  water 
in  the  streams  till  summer  is  nearly  over. 
The  snow  that  falls  in  March  and  Feb- 
ruary has  no  time  to  become  packed  and 
hardened.  The  first  warm  breath  of 
spring  melts  it  with  a  rush,  the  streams 
overflow  their  banks,  freshets  flood  the 
country  for  a  few  days;  then  gradually 
the  streams  subside  and  a  drought 
ensues. 

The  issuing  of  special  snow  bulletins 
has  been  continued  this  winter  by  the 
section  directors  of  the  U.  S.  Weather 
Bureau  in  Colorado,  Montana,  Idaho, 
Utah,  New  Mexico,  and  Wyoming. 
These  bulletins  give  the  average  amount 
of  snow  on  the  ground,  the  amount  in 
the  timber  line,  and  the  depth  of  the 
snow  at  or  near  the  mountain  summits. 
From  their  knowledge  of  the  depth, 
character,  and  distribution  of  the  snow, 
the  Weather  Bureau  experts  are  able  to 
give  a  reliable  general  forecast  of  the 
water  supply  for  the  ensuing  season  for 
the  different  streams  of  the  arid  section. 
The  farmer  thus  learns  months  in  a'd- 
vance  the  quantity  of  water  his  irrigat- 
ing ditches  are  likely  to  receive.  The 
sheep-herder  also  studies  the  snow 
bulletin  with  profit.  In  early  spring 
bands  of  sheep  begin  to  roam  the  prai- 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


ries,  keeping,  of  course,  close  to  water. 
Often  the  sheep  may  travel  400  to  600 
miles,  and  by  knowing  the  character 
and  amount  of  the  snow  in  the  moun- 
tains, the  herder  can  follow  a  route 
where  water  will  be  plentiful. 


GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES. 

THE  following  decisions  were  made 
by  the   United  States  Board  on 
Geographic  Names,  February  6,  1901  : 

Ambrose  ;  the  channel  across  Sandy 
Hook  Bar,  New  York  Harbor,  for- 
merly known  as  East  Harbor,  was  re- 
named Ambrose  Channel  by  an  act 
of  Congress  approved  June  6,  1900. 
In  that  act  it  is  '  'Provided,  That  the 
so-called  East  Channel  across  Sandy 
Hook  Bar,  New  York  Harbor,  for 
the  improvement  of  which  provision 
was  made  by  the  river  and  harbor 
act,  approved  March  third,  eighteen 
hundred  and  ninety-nine, shall  here- 
after be  known  as  Ambrose  Chan- 
nel" (Statutes  at  Large,  s6th  Con- 
gress, ist  session,  pp.  588  and  627). 
The  name  Ambrose  is  here  included 
not  as  a  decision  of  the  Board,  but 
as  a  decision  by  Congress. 

Conaskonk  ;  point,  Monmouth  County, 
New  Jersey  (not  Conaskonck). 

Cove  City  ;  township, Crawford  County, 
Arkansas  (not  Core). 

Garrett ;  hill  in  Middletown,  Monmouth 
County,  New  Jersey  (not  Garret 
nor  Garrett' s). 

Guttenberg ;  post-office  and  railroad 
station,  Clayton  County,  Iowa  (not 
Guttenburg). 


Kekurnoi  ;  cape  near  Cold  Bay,  Sheli- 
kof  Strait,  Alaska  (not  Kahurnoi, 
Nelupaki,  nor  Nukakalkak). 

Kessler  ;  mountain  and  triangulation 
station  near  Fayetteville,  Washing- 
ton County,  Arkansas  (not  Kestler). 

Klahini ;  river  tributary  to  Burroughs 
Bay,  Behm  Canal,  southeastern 
Alaska(not  Clahona  nor  Klaheena). 

Leechville  ;  post-office,  Beaufort  County, 
North  Carolina  (not  Leachville). 

Steele  ;  point,  the  easternmost  point  of 
Hinchinbrook  Island,  Prince  Wil- 
liam Sound,  Alaska  (not  Bentinck 
nor  Steel). 

Tuttle  ;  lake,  Polk  County,  Wisconsin 
(not  Swahn). 

West  Point  ;  United  States  Military 
Academy,  New  York  (not  West- 
point). 


CHARTING  THE  HARBORS  OF 
THE  PHILIPPINES. 

Preliminary  steps  have  been  taken  by 
the  U.  S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  for 
charting  the  harbors  and  coast  of  the 
Philippine  Islands.  A  sub-office  of  the 
Survey  has  been  established  at  Manila, 
in  charge  of  G.  R.  Putnam,  who  has  a 
force  of  men  collecting  material  to  assist 
in  the  work.  In  the  early  spring  active 
work  will  be  commenced  and  pushed,  so 
that  it  is  hoped  that  sufficient  accurate 
data  will  have  been  obtained  by  the  fall 
to  enable  the  publication  of  charts  of 
the  larger  harbors  among  the  islands. 
There  are  no  charts  of  the  many  minor 
ports  in  the  islands  that  serve  as  points 
of  distribution  for  the  inter-island  trade, 
and  these  also  must  be  charted. 


GEOGRAPHIC  LITERATURE 


The  Century  Atlas  of  the  World.     Pre- 
pared under  the   superintendence  of 
Benjamin    E.    Smith.      New   York : 
The  Century  Co.,  1899.     $7.50. 
The  Century  Atlas,  which  was  first 
published  in    1897,  and   followed  by  a 
second  edition   in    1899,   has  doubtless 
been  consulted  at  various  times  by  every 
reader  of  this  Magazine.     A  review  or 
notice  of  the  Atlas  would  now  be  super- 
fluous.    The  publishers,  however,  have 
made  such  a  generous  proposition  to  the 
members  of   the  National    Geographic 
Society,  and  to  the  members  of  one  or 
two  other  scientific  bodies  in  the  United 
States,  that  the  great  value  of  the  work 
should  again  be  emphasized. 

The  Atlas  was  originally  published  as 
a  separate  volume  to  enable  subscribers 
to  the  Century  Dictionary  to  complete 
their  sets.  Of  the  edition  a  few  hun- 
dred copies  remain.  These  the  pub- 
lishers have  offered  to  members  of  the 
National  Geographic  Society  at  one-half 
the  original  price  ($7. 50  instead  of  $15). 
The  Atlas  will  not  be  sold  separately  as 
soon  as  these  copies  are  disposed  of,  and 
can  then  be  obtained  only  by  purchasing 
the  entire  set  of  10  volumes  that  com- 
prise ' '  The  Century  Dictionary  and 
Cyclopedia." 

The  Atlas  contains  117  double-page 
maps,  138  inset  maps,  and  43  histor- 
ical and  astronomical  maps.  There  are 
nearly  200,000  references  to  places  in 
the  indexes.  To  each  of  the  principal 
States  two  or  three  maps  are  allotted, 
showing  all  the  rivers,  lakes,  and  hills 
in  great  detail.  Maps  of  the  large  cities 
with  their  environs  are  presented,  and 
the  harbors  of  great  seaports  are  also 
clearly  charted.  In  its  foreign  maps 
the  Century  Atlas  excels,  the  maps  of 
China  and  the  Far  East  being  especially 
valuable. 


Moore  s  Meteorological  Almanac  and 
Weather  Guide.  By  Prof.  Willis  L. 
Moore,  LL.  D.,  Chief  of  United  States 
Weather  Bureau.  With  illustrations 
and  32  charts,  pp.  128.  Chicago  and 
New  York:  Rand,  McNally  &  Co., 
i9or.  $0.25. 

Unlike  the  traditional  almanac  that  is 
crammed  with  queer  statements  and 
queer  dates,  this  little  book  is  a  reser- 
voir of  reliable  information  for  "the 
farmer,  the  horticulturist,  the  shipper, 
the  mariner,  the  merchant,  the  tourist, 
the  health-seeker,  and  for  those  who 
wish  to  learn  the  art  of  weather  fore- 
casting." 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  and  valu- 
able chapter  is  that  on  ' '  the  construc- 
tion and  the  use  of  the  weather  map," 
which  explains  how  an  amateur,  by 
consulting  the  government  daily  weather 
chart, can  follow  the  track  of  storms,  and 
with  considerable  accuracy  forecast  the 
weather.  The  difference  between  the 
cyclone  and  the  tornado,  terms  usually 
used  as  synonymous,  is  emphasized  in 
another  chapter.  "  The  cyclone  is  a 
horizontally  revolving  disk  of  air  cover- 
ing an  area  1,000  to  2,000  miles  in  diam- 
eter, while  the  tornado  is  a  revolving 
mass  of  air  of  only  100  to  1,000  feet  in 
diameter,  and  is  simply  an  incident  of 
the  cyclone."  Prof.  Moore  states, under 
the  subject  of  "  Protection  against 
Frost,"  that,  in  his  opinion,  with  ap- 
proved appliances,  the  fruit  districts  of 
California  and  the  orange  groves  of 
Florida  could  secure  material  protection 
against  frost.  Other  instructive  chap- 
ters are  :  "  Long-range  Forecasts." 
"The  Galveston  Hurricane  of  1900," 
' '  Loss  of  Life  and  Property  by  Light- 
ning," "Weather  Bureau  Kites,"  and 
"  Temperatures  Injurious  to  Food  Pro- 
ducts. ' ' 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   THE   NATIONAL 
GEOGRAPHIC   SOCIETY 


Popular  Meetings.  • 

February  i,  1901. — President  Graham 
Bell  in  the  chair.  Senor  Dr.  Don  Juan 
N.  Navarro,  Mexican  Consul  General  in 
New  York  city,  delivered  an  illustrated 
address,  "  Mexico  of  Today." 

February  15,  1901. — Vice-President 
W  J  McGee  in  the  chair.  Mr.  Oscar  T. 
Crosby  delivered  an  illustrated  address, 
"  Explorations  in  Abyssinia  in  1900." 

Technical  Meetings. 

January  25, 1901. — President  Graham 
Bell  in  the  chair.  Prof.  Alfred  J.  Henry, 
of  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau, 
read  a  paper  on  the  anomalous  distribu- 
tion of  rainfall  in  the  Gulf  and  South 
Atlantic  States  during  the  eleven  years 
1889-1899.  Ordinarily  .Professor  Henry 
said,  years  of  fat  and  lean  rainfall  follow 
each  other  in  a  very  irregular  procession. 
A  single  dry  y ear  may  be  followed  by  a 
second  and  even  a  third,  but  rarely  by 
a  fourth.  Wet  years  likewise  may  occur 
in  groups,  but  the  number  of  years  in  a 
group  seldom  exceed  three. 

In  the  case  to  which  attention  was 
particularly  called  eleven  consecutive 
dry  years  were  experienced.  The  an- 
nual deficiency  at  the  several  stations 
varied  largely.  In  some  years  it  was 
not  more  than  10  per  cent  of  the  mean 
annual  fall;  in  others  it  was  as  much  as 
50  per  cent.  Happily  the  mean  annual 
fall  in  the  region  referred  to  is  so  great 
that  an  annual  deficit  of  50  per  cent  does 
not  create  serious  alarm. 

Dr.  H.  C.  Frankenfield  inquired 
whether  the  deficiency  in  large  cities 
was  due  to  general  causes  or  to  steadily 
growing  artificial  conditions,  such  as  the 
increased  use  of  electrical  appliances  ? 
Professor  Henry  replied  that  the  defi- 


ciency was  common  to  both  cities  and 
small  towns  and  even  to  exposed  points 
on  the  sea  coast.  It  was  probably  due 
in  part  to  a  shifting  in  latitude  of  the 
paths  of  storms  and  to  a  diminution  in 
the  number  of  tropical  disturbances  aris- 
ing in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  or  advancing 
toward  the  southern  coast  of  the  United 
States  from  the  Caribbean. 

Prof.  Willis  L.  Moore  called  attention 
to  the  very  great  paucity  of  meteorolog- 
ical records  and  the  exceedingly  short 
time  that  such  records  had  been  con- 
tinued. We  should  have,  he  said,  at 
least  a  hundred  years'  observations  be- 
fore we  could  hope  to  account  for  such 
marked  variations  as  had  been  described. 

Mr.  N.  H.  Darton  read  a  paper  enti- 
tled ' '  The  Powder  River  Range  in  East- 
ern Wyoming. ' '  The  title  of  Mr.  A.  C. 
Spencer's  paper  was  "A  High  Plateau 
in  the  Copper  River  Region  of  Alaska," 
an  interesting  description  of  certain 
physiographic  features  of  that  section  of 
Alaska.  In  ' '  The  Distribution  of  Trees 
and  Shrubs  in  Alaska, "  by  F.  V.  Coville, 
the  speaker  traced  the  zones  of  plant  life 
in  Alaska  and  gave  several  possible  ex- 
planations of  the  strange  absence  of 
vegetation  on  the  Aleutian  Islands. 

Februarys,  IQOF. — President  Graham 
Bell  in  the  chair.  Prof.  Frank  H.  Bige- 
low  read  a  paper  entitled  ' '  The  Plateau 
Barometry  of  the  United  States, ' '  the  first 
public  announcement  of  an  important 
work  that  the  Weather  Bureau  has  been 
prosecuting  during  the  last  two  years. 

The  reduction  of  barometric  read- 
ings of  pressure,  taken  at  the  stations 
on  the  Rocky  Mountain  Plateau  to  the 
sea-level,  has  been  a  problem  of  special 
importance  to  the  Weather  Bureau,  on 
account  of  their  employment  in  form- 
ing daily  weather  charts.  It  is  also  one 


128         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


of  much  scientific  difficulty,  because 
of  some  uncertainty  in  the  elevation  of 
the  stations,  and  the  proper  temperature 
argument  to  be  used  in  making  the  nee 
essary  reductions.  With  the  lapse  of 
time  the  necessary  observations  have 
accumulated  to  such  an  extent  that  it 
has  become  desirable  to  reduce  the  entire 
series  taken  during  the  past  30  years  to 
a  homogeneous  system,  with  the  epoch 
January  i,  1900.  Professor  Bigelow 
has  been  conducting  this  research  for 
the  past  two  years,  and  the  work  is  now 
approaching  completion. 

The  present  investigation  has  included 
a  complete  remodeling  of  the  station 
elevation  data  ;  the  reduction  of  all  the 
pressures  to  a  normal  station  pressure, 
which  has  never  been  done  before,  by 
the  application  of  a  system  of  corrections 
for  elevation,  gravity,  instrumental  error, 
and  diurnal  variation  ;  the  careful  de- 
termination of  the  temperature  gradients 
in  latitude,  longitude,  and  altitude  ;  the 
reduction  to  sea-level  by  new  tables  ; 
the  determination  of  residuals  due  to 
local  abnormalities,  to  inaccurate  eleva- 
tions, and  to  incomplete  series  of  obser- 
vations, as  for  those  of  only  a  few  years' 
duration,  and  the  further  correction  of 
the  station  pressures  to  a  homogeneous 
normal  system. 

This  work  will  also  contain  normal 
maps  of  pressure,  temperature,  and  vapor 
tension  on  the  three  following  planes  : 
sea-level,  3,500  feet,  and  10,000  feet. 
From  these  data  it  will  be  practicable^  in 
connection  with  the  gradients  obtained 
from  the  International  Cloud  Observa- 
tories, to  make  good  daily  weather  maps 
on  the  three  planes  above  mentioned, 
and  thus  to  provide  further  means  of 
studying  the  behavior  of  storms  and  the 
atmospheric  circulation  generally,  at 
other  levels  than  that  of  the  sea,  to 
which  the  forecaster  is  at  present  con- 
fined for  his  predictions. 


Mr.  E.G.  Barnard  presented  a  plan  of 
work  in  exploratory  surveys. 

Announcement  of  Meetings. 

March  i. — "The  Recent  Famine  in 
India,"  by  Gilson  Willetts. 

March  15.— "  The  Two  Ends  of  the 
Earth  :  Peary  and  the  North  Pole,  and 
the  Cruise  of  the  Belgica  in  the  Ant- 
arctics,"  by  H.  L.  Bridgman  and  Fred- 
erick A.  Cook. 

March  29. —  "  Railwa>rs  and  Water- 
ways of  the  Russian  Empire,"  by  Alex- 
ander Hume  Ford. 

These  meetings  will  be  held  in  the 
Congregational  church,  Tenth  and  G 
streets  northwest,  at  8  p.  m. 


Technical  meetings  for  the  reading  of 
papers  and  for  discussion  will  be  held 
in  the  hall  of  the  Cosmos  Club  Friday 
evenings,  March  8  and  23,  at  8  p.  in. 


As  previously  announced,  the  subjt 
of  the  afternoon  series  of  lectures  for 
this  year  is  "  The  Countries  of  Asia." 
The  dates  and  lecturers  are  as  follows: 

March 5. — "  Western  Asia,"  by  Tal- 
cott  Williams,  LL.  D.,  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Press. 

March  12. — "Eastern  Asia  (China)." 
Name  of  lecturer  to  be  announced  later. 

March  20. — "Southern  Asia  (India)." 
Name  of  lecturer  to  be  announced  later. 

March  26. — "Northern  Asia  (Sibe- 
ria)," by  Edwin  A.  Grosvenor,  Profes- 
sor of  Modern  Governments  in  Amherst 
College. 

April  2.— "Asia— The  Cradle  of  Hu- 
manity," by  W  J  McGee,  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  National  Geographic  Society. 

These  lectures  will  be  given  in  the 
Columbia  Theatre,  Twelfth  and  F 
streets  northwest,  at  4.20  p.  m. 


VOL.  XII,  No.  4 


WASHINGTON 


APRIL,  1901 


THE   OLD  YUMA    TRAIL 

BY  W  J   McGEE,  VICE-PRESIDENT  OF  THE  NATIONAL 
GEOGRAPHIC  SOCIETY 


THE  distinctive  part  of  the  Old 
Yuma  Trail  lies  between  So- 
noyta  (long.  112°  50')  and 
Sierra  Gila  (long.  114°  05'),  the  south- 
westernmost  range  of  Arizona  ;  be- 
tween these  points  it  nearly  coincides 
with  the  international  boundary.  East 
of  the  old-time  Place  of  Corn  there  are 
several  tributary  trails.  The  ancient 
and  modern  pilgrimage-path  leads  west- 
ward from  Baboquivari  Peak  (long.  1 1 1  ° 
40')  to  a  capricious  watering  place  at 
the  southern  end  of  Santa  Rosa  Mount- 
ains (long.  112°  30'),  and  thence  on  to 
Sonoyta  ;  the  early  Mexican  route  led 
through  Magdalena  and  Santa  Ana,  and 
thence  through  Altar  and  over  the  plains 
to  the  Santa  Rosa  water ;  the  later 
Mexican  approach  (afterward  adopted 
by  many  American  pioneers)  can  be 
traced  through  Fronteras  to  the  old 
mission  of  Tubac,  and  thence  through 
Arivaca  and  Sasabe  to  a  practically  per- 
manent water  at  the  southern  end  of 
Sierra  Baboquivari  (Poso  Verde),  and 
on  over  the  plains  now  intersected  by 
the  boundary  to  Santa  Rosa  and  So- 
noyta ;  while  an  alternative  American 


approach  lies  through  the  ancient  city 
of  Tucson  and  by  Coyote  spring  (at  the 
northern  end  of  Sierra  Baboquivari)  to 
the  main  trail  anywhere  east  of  Santa 
Rosa,  and  thence  to  Sonoyta.  From 
this  oasis  westward  there  is  but  a  single 
way  to  Tinajas  Altas,  near  the  southern 
end  of  Sierra  Gila;  but  there  the  tracks 
diverge,  one  distributary  leading  down 
the  northeastern  side  of  the  range  to 
Rio  Gila,  another  through  a  neighboring 
pass  and  thence  directly  northwestward 
to  Yuma,  with  a  third  (theoretically  at 
least ;  the  way  is  practically  impass- 
able save  by  well-equipped  expeditions) 
across  the  drifting  sands  stretching  to 
Rio  Colorado  at  the  point  touched  by 
the  Arizona-Sonora  boundary. 

The  Santo  Domingo  of  today  stands 
on  the  site  of  the  wooden  cross  erected 
by  the  padres  over  two  centuries  ago. 
It  is  a  feudal  Mexican  village  of  the 
type  prevailing  in  the  remoter  districts. 
Owned  and  governed  (with  constant 
fealty  to  the  distant  but  beloved  Presi- 
dente  and  the  much-adored  Carmencita, 
who  is  to  Mexico  what  Victoria  was  to 
Britain)  by  Don  Cipriano  Ortega,  it  com- 


130        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


"  The  Santo  Domingo  of  today     , 

prises  a  chief  residence,  a  habitation  for 
the  aduana  (customs  office),  a  smaller 
house  occupied  by  a  minor  branch  of  the 
family,  a  church  with  horseshoe-shape 
bell  arch,  and  three  or  four  shops  and 
stables,  all  of  adobe,  flat-roofed  and  one 
low  story  high  ;  besides,  there  is  an 
abandoned  ore  mill  of  half  a  dozen  steam- 
driven  arrastres,  while  half  a  dozen 
Papago  Indian  huts  form  the  customary 
"lower  town."  The  rancho  is  large, 
skilfully  irrigated, and  so  productive  that 
corrals  and  sheds  are  filled  with  vigor- 
ous stock  and  abundant  grain-hay  and 
barley.  The  nearest  low  spur  of  Sierra 
Sonoyta  better  attests  the  antiquit}'  of 
the  settlement  than  the  few  houses  and 
inhabitants  ;  for  there  the  evangelists 
and  their  civil  successors  have  laid  seven 
or  eight  generations  of  their  dead  in 
cross-marked  sepulchres,  while  hard  by 
lies  the  much  more  populous  cemetery 
of  the  Papago  dependents — those  of  the 
pagan  dead  in  the  form  of  a  ki  (house), 
but  built  of  stones  and  strewn  with  the 
bones  of  sacrificed  horses  ;  those  of  the 


converts  in  similar 
form,  though  built  of 
earth  and  decently 
marked  with  en 
outlined  in  pebbles. 
At  both  residence  and 
aduana  the  ethnologic 
expedition  was  wel- 
comed and  supported 
by  Don  Bartolo  Orte- 
ga (in  the  temporary 
absence  of  the  eldest 
brother),  as  well  as  by 
the  local  customs  offi- 
cer, Senor  Garcias, 
the  way  having  been 
made  easy  by  the 
courteous  prevision  of 
Mexican  authorities.* 

ON  THE  WAY  WEST- 
WARD 


.    ."  On   November    15, 

1900,    a    six -mule 

wagon  carrying  all  the  casks  and  kegs 

*  His  Excellency  Manuel  de  Aspiroz,  the 
Mexican  Ambassador  at  Washington,  and  Ex- 
cellencia  Fernando  Leal,  Secretario  de  Fo- 
uieuto,  in  Mexico,  were  on  this  occasion,  as  on 
others,  most  liberal  and  obliging  in  furnishing 
authority  for  the  international  ethnologic 
work,  while  the  Mexican  authorities  at  Nogales 
were  so  generous  as  to  send  a  representative 
to  Phoenix,  and  thence  with  the  expedition  to 
Santo  Domingo.  The  party  comprised  W  J 
McGee,  in  charge;  De  Lancey  Gill,  artist; 
Professor  R.  H.  Forbes,  of  Tucson,  a  guest  dur- 
ing part  of  the  expedition  ;  John  J.  Carroll  and 
Jim  Moberly,  stockmen  ;  Aurelio  Mata,  Mt-xi- 
can  customs  officer,  and  Ramon  Zapeda,  Mexi- 
can interpreter,  with  Hugh  Norris,  Papago  in- 
terpreter. The  entire  route  was  from  Phoenix 
to  Gila  Bend  ;  thence  via  Ajo  to  Quitobaquito 
and  Santo  Domingo  ;  thence  to  Sonoyta  and 
southward  via  Quitobac, Cozon, and  Las Tajitas 
to  Caborca  ;  next  westward  to  the  Gulf  shore 
(at  the  point  recently  occupied  by  the  now  ex- 
tinct Tepoka  tribe),  and  thence  back,  mainly 
by  new  routes,  to  Santo  Domingo.  From  this 
point  the  old  Yuma  trail  was  traversed  to 
Tinajas  Altas,  and  thence  via  Gila  City  to 
Yuma,  whence  the  expedition  pushed  on  to  the 
Cocopa  country,  near  the  mouth  of  Colorado 
river,  afterward  returning  via  Yuma  and  the 
Gila  valley  to  Phoenix. 


THE    OLD   YUMA   TRAIL 


)f   both  Santo    Domingo  and 
Sonoyta,  besides  a  quarter-load 
>f  hay  and  grain,  set  out  on 
the  Old  Yuraa  Trail  under  an 
irrangement  with  Don  Bartolo 
to  deliver  water  and  feed    in 
lie    Pass    (sixty-odd    miles 
iway)  by  the  third  evening  ; 
lext  day  the  four-mule  light 
/agon  and  the  four  saddle  ani- 
lals  of  the  expedition  were  on 
the   road   betimes.       Crossing 
the  sandwash  of  Rio  Sonoyta 
-a  channel  broad  enough  for 
the  Ohio,  deep  enough  for  the 
Jchuylkill,   but  dust-dry  from 
)ank  to  bank — the  way  mean- 
iered  over  a  cactus-dotted  plain 
simulating  a  vast  alluvial  de- 
3sit  but  revealing  its  origin 
>y   sheetflood   carving   in  oc- 
:asional    projecting    bosses  of 
ranite ;     passing    monument 
1 72,  it  swung  a  few  yards  north 
)f  the   boundary  to  touch   at 
hiitobaquito — the  Papago  vil- 
lage with  five  centuries  behind 
it.  and  two  adobe  houses  besides 
a  half-dozen  native  huts  within 
it.     Here  the  entire  white  pop- 
ulation (Mr.  M.  G.  Levy,  mer- 
chant,  mine-owner,  justice  of 
the   peace,    and    deputy    sheriff)    was 
avidly  hospitable,  the  native  residents 
attentive,  as  became  the  unusualness  of 
the   event  ;     and    the   side-barrels   and 
half-dozen  canteens  of  the  outfit  were 
soon  filled  with  the  slightly  alkaline  yet 
palatable   and   wholesome    water    from 
the  spring.     Qtiitobaquito  lies  amid  the 
southeasternmost    foothills   of   a  sierra 
bearing  the  name  of  spring  and  village  ; 
a  dozen  miles  away  the  range  divides, 
a  spur  setting  off  southward  to  form 
Cerro  Salado  (or  Sierra  de  la  Salada), 
and  the  trail  veers  partly  to  avoid  this 
spur,  partly  to  touch  the  "  last  water  " 
near  its  tip. 

Beyond  Quitobaquito  the  ancient  trail 
grows   impressive.     True,   the  narrow 


'A  cactus  dotted  plain    .    .    .    revealing  its  origin 
in  occasional  projecting  bosses  of  granite." 


stock-path  followed  by  the  wagons  is  in 
large  part  new  ;  but,  as  well  seen  from 
the  crest  of  Cerro  Htierfano,  the  new 
track  diverges  from  the  old  only  be- 
cause the  old  was  so  deep  that  it  has 
become  a  storm-cut  arroya — indeed  for 
miles  Rio  Sonoyta  abandons  the  ancient 
sandwash  during  its  brief  spurts  of 
activity  to  convert  the  wheel-worn  way 
into  a  flood-channel.  Prehistoric  sites 
and  relics  of  the  early  stone  age  are 
sparsely  scattered  over  the  plain  ;  the 
ruins  of  a  Mexican  rancho,  with  well 
and  corral  and  acequias,  lie  three  miles 
west  of  Quitobaquito  ;  and  there  is  an 
abandoned  ganadero  (stock  ranch)  at  the 
"last  water"  five  miles  beyond,  known 
commonly  as  "Agua  Dulce  "  from  the 


o 

<U 


o 
U 


THE   OLD   YUMA   TRAIL 


alkaline  sweetness  of  the  water,  prop- 
erlyas  "AguaSalada"  from  its  salinity. 
The  ''agua"  is  merely  the  small  residuum 
of  underflow  and  local  seepage  brought 
to  the  surface  of  the  Sonoyta  sand  wash 
by  impervious  ledges  of  Cerro  Salado  in 
their  subterranean  extension  across  the 
valley  ;  and  the  banks  and  bottom  are 
encrusted  with  frost-like  efflorescences 
of  mineral  salts.  The  water  is  fair  for 
stock,  just  potable  for  men  ;  it  is  a  re- 
sort for  half-wild  cattle  and  horses  and 
burros  ranging  the  sierras  and  valleys 
for  twenty  miles  beyond  ;  but  the  latest 
sign  is  that  of  Don  Bartolo's  outfit, 
whose  casks  and  kegs  were  filled  twenty- 
four  hours  earlier.  Here  we  pitch  a 
tentless  camp,  with  the  first  graves  of  the 
Old  Yuma  Trail  on  a  low  spur  hard  by  ; 
the  sky  is  clear,  though  the  air  is  heavy 
and  warm  ;  and  Coyote  (the  Wise  One 
of  Papago  lore)  creeps  near  to  sing  his 
rain-song — a  sleep-breaking  wail  well 
understood  of  the  vaqueros. 

THE  SUMP  OF  THE  SONOYTA 

The  first  faint  dawn  of  the  iyth  is 
ushered  by  a  slow  sprinkle  from  low 
clouds,  forming  a  fog-bank  half  way  up 
the  Cerro,  but  so  light  overhead  that  the 
brighter  stars  glimmer  through  ;  and 
blankets  are  hurriedly  rolled  and  loaded, 
breakfast  is  bolted, and  the  outfit  is  under 
way  in  the  gray  twilight.  With  sunrise 
the  floating  fogs  fade,  revealing  the  en- 
tire salt-pan  in  which  Rio  Sonoyta  comes 
to  an  end — a  basin  of  a  score  square 
miles,  bounded  on  the  north  by  Cerro 
Salado  and  its  footslopes,  on  the  west  by 
minor  ranges  running  down  from  Sierra 
Pinecate,  and  on  the  southeast  by  a 
sheetflood  slope  studded  with  volcanic 
buttes  and  mesas  ;  while  the  old  valley 
opening  southwestward  to  the  Gulf  stops 
at  a  dam  of  hundred-foot  dunes  marking 
the  margin  of  the  Red  Desert — a  sea- 
born tide  of  sand  slowly  engulfing  the 
lowlands  of  Sonora  from  Rio  Colorado 
to  Lobos  Point.  This  is  the  "  sink  " 


of  the  Sonoyta  in  the  pioneers'  vernac- 
ular, its  evaporating  vat  in  physical 
fact ;  after  freshets  it  is  lake  or  mo- 
rass according  to  the  volume  of  the 
flood,  and  then  bottomless  mire  for 
weeks  ;  now  it  is  a  Titan-patterned  car- 
pet of  red,  white,  yellow,  and  black 
efflorescences,  relieved  by  the  greens  of 
salt-enduring  shrubbery  on  higher  spots. 
On  the  hard-baked  surface-crust  the 
hoofs  drum  and  the  wheels  rumble  with 
a  hollow  reverberation  more  disturbing 
to  animals  than  to  men — albeit  reminders 
to  these  of  tragedies  galore  in  the  treach- 
erous sump.  A  herd  of  wild  burros  see 
or  scent  the  leading  horseman  from  afar, 
and  after  deer-like  stamps  and  snorts 
and  other  signals  gather  in  a  bunch, with 
dams  and  foals  in  the  lead  and  males  in 
the  rear,  to  skim  with  amazing  swift- 
ness— recalling  the  wild  asses  of  Arabia — 
down  the  rocky  slopes  and  over  the  re- 
sounding play  a  obliquely  across  the  trail 
toward  the  impassable  sand-dunes ; 
while  an  occasional  band  of  half-wild 
horses  may  be  glimpsed  lurking  behind 
mesquite  clumps  or  scurrying  for  more 
distant  shelter. 

The  trail  leaves  the  Sonoyta  basin 
about  longitude  113°  10',  and  ten  miles 
south  of  the  boundary  ;  thence  it  wan- 
ders northwestward  over  rocky  foot- 
slopes,  bending  slightly  to  avoid  isolated 
buttes  and  curving  more  sharply  to  cross 
arroyos,  for  a  dozen  miles — to  an  imper- 
ceptible divide  and  the  invisible  fron- 
tier, where  it  enters  a  typical  valley-plain 
of  southwestern  Arizona.  Just  outside 
the  basin  we  overtake  the  supply  outfit 
(which  should  have  been  thirty  miles  fur- 
ther on),  and  learn  of  the  broken  queen 
bolt  and  the  long  night  ride  by  the  Mexi- 
can to  replace  it,  while  the  Indian  staid 
by  the  stock  ;  and  we  foregather  to  re- 
vise plans,  swallowing  apprehensions 
and  a  cold  bite  as  the  rare  clouds  of 
Papagueria  gather  to  break  in  noonday 
showers  and  dispel  the  darkest  danger 
of  the  desert.  After  arranging  a  ren- 
dezvous where  galleta  grass  may  be 


134        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


found  (for  all  stock  trails  are  now  left 
behind),  the  lighter  outfit  pushes  on  to 
outspan  in  sight  of  monument  178  (lon- 
gitude 113°  20') — the  first  "dry"  camp 
on  the  Old  Trail.  Here  sign  of  antelope 
and  deer  are  seen,  and  the  galleta  is  re- 
covering slowly  from  the  over-pasturage 
of  the  mid-century  ;  Mr.  Gill  finds  a 
curious  aboriginal  cache  in  a  cavern 
of  the  volcanic  butte  on  which  the  monu- 
ment stands  ;  and  showers  come  and  go 
throughout  the  night. 

ACROSS  PLAYAS  AND  MALPAIS 

•  The  second  morning  from  Santo  Do- 
mingo is  cool  and  cloudy;  blankets  and 
saddles  are  stiff  with  the  wet,  the  ani- 
mals fractious;  but  three  miles  of  smooth 
going  and  a  rising  sun  bring  comfort 
with  the  passage  through  a  congeries  of 
granite  picachos  rising  abruptly  from 
the  level  plain — and  the  pass  is  a  gate- 
way into  Tule  Desert.  The  first  quarter 
of  this  expanse  alternates  between  bare 
playa  and  a  lax  thicket  of  creosote 
{Larrea}  growing  in  extraordinary  lux- 
uriance (clumps  twelve  feet  high  and 
branches  fifteen  feet  long  are  common), 
while  the  silty  floor  is  riven  every  few 
rods  by  giant  shrinkage-cracks,  often  a 
foot  or  more  wide  and  a  yard  or  two 
deep.  Fortunately  the  showers  here 
have  been  light;  yet  the  alkaline  silt  is 
tenacious  mud,  fetlock-deep  for  the 
mules  and  twice  felloe-deep  for  the 
wagons.  The  next  fraction  of  the  val- 
ley is  a  tongue  of  the  Red  Desert, 
reaching  in  by  the  western  end  of  Sierra 
Pinecate  and  stretching  a  dozen  miles 
northward  to  lap  the  base  of  parti-col- 
ored Sierra  Pinta;  for  five  miles  the  old 
trail  (which  was  lost  in  the  playas)  re- 
appears here  and  there  as  a  deep-worn 
way,  partly  filled  and  often  obliterated 
by  drifting  sands ;  and  the  dead  drag  is 
the  more  dispiriting  for  the  steady  up- 
grade toward  the  malpais  belt  dividing 
Tule  Valley. 

This  malpais — theme  of  many  a  trav- 


eler's tale — forms  a  notable  feature  of 
the  old  route.  It  is  a  vast  sheet  of  black 
lava  stretching  toward  Sierra  Pinta  from 
a  group  of  craters  (and  probably  un- 
seen fissures  as  well)  a  few  furlon. 
miles  south  of  the  roadway;  but  while 
so  youthful,  in  geologic  sense,  that  the 
principal  lines  and  lobes  of  flowage  and 
the  rugged  scarps  of  the  margins  remain 
distinct,  the  surface  is  weathered  into  a 
pavement  of  pebbles  bedded  below  in 
light  yellow  sand  but  polished  above 
by  a  "desert  varnish"  of  remarkable 
brilliance;  and  the  pebbles  are  se 
close  that  the  varnished  surfaces  form  a 
neaily  continuous  mirror  miles  in  ex- 
tent, reflecting  light  and  heat  with 
painful  intensity.  The  malpais  belt 
forms  a  low  mesa  on  which  an  occa- 
sional scrubby  mesquite  or  saguaro 
(Cercus  giganteus)  or  pitahaya  (Cereus 
engelmannii)  has  found  lodgment;  it 
affords  fine  views  of  the  Painted  Range 
on  the  north,  of  the  serrate  crests  and 
pointed  peaks  brought  out  by  the  after- 
noon sun  in  Tule  Mountains,  and  espe- 
cially of  Sierra  Pinecate,  now  falling 
into  the  rear  on  the  left ;  and  the  last 
view  serves  to  rectify  the  reports  of  the 
pioneers  by  showing  that  Pinecate  is 
not  a  crater  but  a  range,  that  the  mal- 
pais stops  miles  short  of  its  nearer  base, 
and  that  it  rises  from  the  Red  Desert 
quite  like  other  ranges  of  western  So- 
nora,  though  to  a  loftier  height  than 
any  neighbor.  Through  the  polished 
pavement  of  black  malpais  the  old  trail 
is  distinct  as  a  line  on  a  map;  the  larger 
pebbles  and  boulders  have  been  thrown 
out  of  the  way  of  wheels  by  generations 
of  travelers,  while  the  smaller  are  ground 
into  the  ashen  sand;  and  at  intervals 
not  exceeding  a  few  hundred  rods  the 
bordering  pavement  is  broken  by  cross- 
shape  pebble-piles  marking  the  journey '  s 
end  now  of  a  youth,  again  of  mother 
and  child,  elsewhere  of  two  or  three 
adult  companions,  but  more  commonly 
of  the  single  traveler,  as  told  vaguely 
by  the  size  and  form  of  the  heap — all 


THE    OLD   YUMA  *TRAIL 


grim  reminders  that  among  the  pioneers 
the  malpais  was  a  favorite  place  for 
dying. 

A  DESERT  STORM 

The  stock  are  breathed  on  the  nearer 
edge  of  the  malpais,  amid  passing  show- 
ers; then  pushed  on  (the  lighter  outfit 
gaining  rapidly)  toward  Tule  Pass. 
Meantime  the  clouds  about  the  south- 
eastern sub-range  of  Sierra  Tule  grow 
dense,  while  those  on  neighboring  crests 
lighten  ;  then  the  cloud-mass  veils  the 
sub-sierra  to  its  base,  and  half  an  hour 
later  sets  slowly  northeastward  over 
Tnle  Valley  toward  the  trail,  so  slowly 
that  both  outfits  are  across  the  mal- 
pais and  in  the  western  half  of  the  Red 
Desert  tongue  before  the  tempest  strikes. 

A  typical  desert  storm  (though  of  ex- 
ceptional severity)  was  this,  and  in- 
structive in  every  aspect.  While  among 
the  peaks  the  cloud-bank  was  about 


3,000  feet  high  and  flattened  dome- 
shape  above,  five  or  six  miles  in  diam- 
eter at  two-thirds  of  the  height,  and 
three  miles  across  at  the  level  of  the 
plain  (the  rain-lines  seen  in  the  lower 
third  converging  from  both  sides) ;  and 
these  proportions  seemed  to  be  main- 
tained, save  for  slight  flattening,  as  the 
mass  drifted  into  the  valley  and  grew 
in  size.  It  was  most  orderly  in  be- 
havior ;  its  rate  of  advance — after  its 
clinging  hold  on  the  sieria  broke — was 
eight  or  ten  miles  an  hour  ;  and  the 
roar  of  rain  and  wind  011  drifted  sand 
and  scattered  mesqnites  was  audible  half 
an  hour,  ominous  for  half  as  long,  be- 
fore the  storm  was  actually  at  hand. 
Steadily  the  rim  of  cloud-bank  pushed 
forward,  passed  overhead,  and  eclipsed 
the  entire  heavens  save  the  northeastern 
eighth  ;  light  sprinkles  fell  from  it  di- 
rectly downward  through  still  air  at 
first,  but  grew  heavier  as  they  caught 


"A  tongue  of  the  Red  Desert." 


136         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


the  northeasterly  air-drift  ;  then  rather 
suddenly — so  quickly  that  prompt  ac- 
tion was  required  to  protect  the  wagon 
as  the  stock  turned  tail — the  wind  stif- 
fened without  changing  direction,  while 
the  shower  became  a  torrent;  and  ten 
minutes  later  a  35-mile  gale  was  driving 
the  drops  in  a  nearly  horizontal  sheet 
above  the  dune  tops,  while  the  temper- 
ature fell  from  some  70°  to  about  35°, 
and  small  hailstones  formed  apparently 
within  a  dozen  feet  of  the  ground.  Ten 
minutes  more  and  the  gale  was  down 
to  a  breeze,  the  torrent  to  a  sprinkle; 
then  the  rearward  margin  of  the  cloud- 
bank  drifted  away  betore  the  continu- 
ing breeze,  and  the  low-swinging  sun 
shone  brightly.  The  cloud-mass  pur- 
sued its  way  toward  Sierra  Pinta,  evi- 
dently meeting  a  misty  cape  alread)' 
hung  about  its  shoulders;  with  the  con- 
junction there  was  much  lightning  and 
some  audible  thunder  ;  then  the  vapor- 
bank  spread  along  the  range,  and  either 
melted  away  or  drifted  on  northeast- 
ward. During  the  twenty  minutes  of 
continuous  pour  the  precipitation  was 
i  j^  or  i  Y*  inches  (estimated  from  catch- 
ment in  water-pail,  etc.);  yet  over  the 
waste  of  drifted  sand  not  a  rill  was 
formed,  not  a  puddle  was  produced,  not 
even  a  watery  surface  was  seen  save 
in  the  few  "slick  spots"  (i.e.,  alka- 
line silt  patches)  of  the  cowboys — the 
sand  simply  swallowed  the  flood  like  a 
sponge,  and  was  visibly  moist  only  to 
depths  of  3  to  4*^  inches. 

The  storm  over,  the  outfit  heads  again 
toward  the  distant  pass,  though  Mob- 
erly  lifts  his  voice  to  tender  (thrice  over, 
in  typical  cowboy  emphasis)  a  "bet 
that  them  there  fellers  let  the  mules 
break  the  tongue  when  the  storm  come 
up  on  em;  "  and  a  half  hour  later  the 
Mexican  gallops  up,  on  a  bareback  mule 
with  toes  locked  inside  the  forelegs,  to 
verify  the  inference.  So  camp  is  made 
in  a  woodless  spot  (save  for  scattered 
creosote  bushes),  while  "  los  gringos  " 
turn  back  to  make  repairs  and  bring  up 


the  supply  outfit  to  a  point  (about  longi- 
tude 1 13°  33' ,'  twenty  miles  short  of  that 
specified  in  the  contract  with  Don  Bar- 
tolo.  It  is  the  third  night's  stop,  and 
the  second  "dry"  camp  on  the  old 
trail — though  drenched  blankets  and 
hourly  showers  belie  the  vernacular  des- 
ignation for  a  desert  camp. 

THE  WAY  THROUGH  TULE  PASS 

By  daybreak  of  the  igth  the  wind 
shifts  from  southwest  to  northwest  and 
grows  chill,  while  gray  clouds  drive 
toward  the  dawn  and  crowd  before  the 
rising  sun  in  a  fashion  more  typical  of 
deserts  than  of  vaporous  lands ;  and 
feed  and  water  are  transferred  to  the 
lighter  outfit,  while  the  supply  team  is 
turned  back  toward  Santo  Domingo — 
with  a  douceur  to  driver  and  aid,  be- 
cause they  did  no  worse.  The  ancient 
trail  forward  is  a  deep  furrow  in  the 
sands,  and  as  these  grade  into  the  silts 
of  the  valley-margin  toward  Tule  I'uss 
the  furrow  becomes  a  series  of  sections 
of  arroj'os,  normally  setting  obliquely 
across  the  trail,  but  diverted  for  rods  or 
furlongs  by  the  deeper  cut  of  the  wagon- 
way  ;  and  within  five  miles  the  arroyos 
bear  marks  of  having  run  brimful  for 
minutes  or  hours  with  the  overflow  from 
the  sierra  on  the  south.  Gradually  the 
way  rises  through  sheetflood-carved 
footslopes,  and  then  winds  among  buttes 
and  granite  walls  toward  an  ill-defined 
divide  ;  graves  grow  numerous  again 
with  the  abundance  of  rocks  to  mark 
them  ;  the  year-old  trail  of  an  Amer- 
ican on  a  shod  horse  and  a  Mexican  on 
a  shoeless  beast  forms  a  clear  paliinp.st.-st 
over  the  7-year-old  tracks  of  the  bound- 
ary parties;  sign  of  deer  and  moun- 
tain sheep  in  pairs  and  flocks  abound  in 
the  gulches,  while  coyote  paths  (unseen 
in  Tule  Desert)  reappear.  The  pa>-  i> 
a  meadow-like  expanse  of  coarse  gra- 
n'tic  sand  filmed  with  scrubby  creosote 
clumps  ;  here  the  trail  divides,  and  a 
guide-post  of  sawn  timber  stands,  soli- 


THE    OLD   YUMA   TRAIL 


tary  and  incongruous,  to  attest  observ- 
ance of  a  territorial  law  by  the  road 
supervisor  of  Yttma  County — and  inci- 
dentally to  indicate  "Tule  Well"  and 
advertise  the  name  and  wisdom  of  the 
last  passer  (the  American  horseman)  in 
the  feeling  inscription  "Agua  Salada  75 
miles — go  back  and  fill  your  canteen. 
G.  O.  Taylor."  Thenceforward  the 
way  is  freshened  and  the  mules  heart- 
ened by  the  year-old  trail  of  the  con- 
scientious supervisor. 

Tule  well  (longitude  113°  45')  is  a 
mile  or  two  from  the  main  trail  ;  it  is 
now  a  name  on  map  and  tongue,  and 
a  caving  pit  in  rocky  detritus  with  a 
barrel  of  liquid  at  the  bottom — liquid 
even  more  saline  than  that  of  the  Gulf, 
in  addition  to  its  overpowering  flavor 
of  copper  salts  and  strong  tinctures  of 
sodden  insects  and  drowned  rodents,  from 
which  even  the  thirstiest  horses  turn  in 
wry  aversion.  In  the  palmy  days  of  the 
Old  Yuma  Trail  this  was  a  way-station, 
as  adobe  ruins  still  proclaim  ;  before  the 
range  was  overpastured  there  was  a  slen- 
der flora  which  helped  to  hold  moisture, 
and  the  water  was  made  tolerable  by  con- 
stant draughts  and  renewals  ;  now  it  is 
but  an  echo  and  a  delusion,  if  not  a 
poison-brew  for  the  chance  traveler.  A 
league  west  of  the  old  well  and  a  mile 
from  the  main  trail  there  is  a  high  tinaja 
(water-pocket)  in  the  granite  range 
running  down  from  Blackhead  Butte 
(Cerrode  la  Cabeza  Prieta),  in  which 
water  may  be  found  by  a  hard  climb  in 
winter  and  spring  or  after  local  storms; 
but  the  chance  is  a  desperate  one  during 
most  of  the  year. 

Be3rond  the  main  amphitheater  of  Tule 
Pass  the  trail  winds  among  granite  buttes, 
sierras,  peaks,  knife-edge  crests  in  be- 
wildering variety  and  labyrinthine  con- 
fusion ;  gray  and  cream,  pink  and  rosy 
walls  of  solid  granite  rise  sheer  from  flat 
valley-floors  of  crumbled  granite  ;  the 
way  wanders  through  a  two-mile  rin- 
con — a  great  natural  corral — of  granite 
walls,  in  which  a  city  might  be  housed 


against  cyclone  or  armed  invasion;  whole 
cubic  miles  of  granite  are  constantly  in 
sight — yet  all  this  granite  is  but  as  a 
hand-specimen  of  northwestern  Sonora 
and  adjacent  Arizona. 

THE  VALLEY  OF  LITTLE  LETTUCE 

Eight  miles  west  of  Tule  Pass  the 
rugged  mass  of  Tule  Mountains  falls 
away,  first  on  the  left  and  then  on  the 
right,  giving  place  to  zones  of  malpais 
which  slope  down  to  Lechuguilla  Valley; 
and  here  again  the  ancient  trail  is  a  thread 
of  yellow  in  a  field  of  black.  Here,  too, 
the  narrow  cemetery  of  the  Old  Yuma 
Trail  grows  more  populous,  for  here  the 
desert  is  most  drear  and  water  most  dis- 
tant ;  the  grave-marks  are  too  many  to 
note — save  the  3o-foot  circle  of  pebbles 
with  a  great  pebble  cross  in  the  center 
recording  the  thirst-death  of  a  family  of 
seven  who  staked  life  on  a  demijohn  of 
water  which  was  accidentally  broken. 
Captain  Gaillard  pictures  this  "  cemen- 
teria,"  and  adds  :  "  The  wagon  tracks 
made  when  the  poor  Mexican  drove  his 
exhausted  team  to  one  side  of  the  road 
were  plainly  visible  thirty  years  after- 
ward, and  at  the  very  spot  still  remain 
pieces  of  glass  and  wicker-work  from 
the  broken  demijohn,  and  the  skulls  of 
the  two  horses."  The  sun  swings  low 
as  we  pass  this  pathetic  memorial  and 
others  on  the  desolate  malpais  ;  and  as 
it  sinks  behind  Sierra  Gila  we  push  out 
a  mile  or  two  on  the  silty  plain  (longi- 
tude 113°  55')  and  make  the  third 
"dry"  camp,  where  the  team-mules 
drink  the  last  of  the  water,  where  ab- 
lution is  not,  and  where  the  slender  store 
of  hay  and  grain  comes  to  an  end.  But 
the  blankets  are  still  damp  and  the  night 
is  chill — than  which  there  are  worse 
things  in  desert  life. 

Lechuguilla  Valley  is  named  from  an 
inconspicuous  agave-like  plant  of  three 
or  four  slender  straggling  stipes  a  few 
inches  high  ;  it  affects  chiefly  the  road- 
way and  arroyos,  leaving  the  glaring 


138         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAIHIC  MAGAZINE 


"  Looking  down  on  threescore  cross-marked  graves. 


silts  to  wide-scattered  tufts  of  creosote 
and  rare  mesquites  ;  and  on  this  waste, 
with  its  speck  of  slow-moving  outfit, 
rises  the  sun  of  the  fifth  day  from  Santo 
Domingo,  the  fourth  from  the  "last 
water."  The  Gila  range  unfolds  into 
another  labyrinth  of  granites  ;  but  it  is 
not  until  high  noon  that  we  draw  up 
the  sheet-flooded  incline  (with  wheels 
grinding  anon  on  granites  like  those  of 
the  crests)  and  pull  up  the  short  arroyo 
to  the  classic  spot  of  the  old  trail — las 
Tinajas  Altas  (the  high  tanks,  longi- 
tude 114°  5').  Here,  thirty  miles  from 
the  nearest  habitation,  and  looking  down 
on  threescore  cross-marked  graves — 
and  how  many  unmarked  no  man  can 
tell, — we  find  the  outfit  of  a  hunting 
party  (now  absent  on  the  chase),  and 


after  drinking  deeply  at  the 
lowest  basin  fare  sumptuously 
on  their  spoil. 

THE  HISTORIC   HIGH  TANKS 

Las  Tinajas  Altas  are  a  series 
of  water- pockets  (partly  pot- 
holes, partly  cataract  pools) 
worn  in  the  gulch  bottom  by 
torrents  following  the  rare 
storms  of  the  region.  The 
lowest  and  largest  is  confined 
partly  by  great  boulders  and 
granitic  debris,  and  is  reached 
by  stock  ;  100  feet  of  finger- 
and-toe  climbing  over  smooth 
rock  leads  to  two  others,  and 
in  50  feet  more  there  is  a  third  ; 
still  higher  one  of  the  party 
climbs  to  a  fourth,  and  thence 
on  to  the  tenth,  stopping  at  a 
smooth  slope  apparently  lead- 
ing to  the  eleventh  basin  hold- 
ing water  the  average  year 
round—' '  Old  the  Taime, ' '  in 
the  quaint  spelling  of  the  Yuma 
supervisor  on  a  guide-board 
seven  miles  away.  The  climb 
was  made  partly  to  examine 
the  Indian  mortars  ground  in 
the  ledges  and  great  boulders  about 
every  pool — mortars  numbering  hun- 
dreds if  not  thousands,  some  but  a  few 
decades  old,  but  most  so  ancient  that 
the  polished  bowls  rise  high  above  the 
unpolished  rocks  around  them — mortars 
recording  the  visits  of  uncounted  gen- 
erations of  devotees,  to  whom  each  la- 
boriously-wrought basin  was  at  once 
symbol  of  and  invocation  for  precious 
food  and  life-giving  water.  One  boulder 
bore  40  pits  in  its  upper  face,  another 
28  ;  and  up  to  the  highest  tinaja  reached 
they  are  found  in  corresponding  profu 
sion.  Most  of  them  must  have  ante- 
dated Padre  Kino,  who  passed  this  wax- 
just  two  centuries  ago  and  mapped  route 
and  "  Tinaxa "  in  1702;  and  most  of 
the  others  must  have  witnessed  the  long 


THE    OLD   Yuivm   TRAIL 


procession  of  pioneers 
who  trod  the  Old  Yutna 
Trail  to  make  Califor- 
nia— and  then  watched 
the  gradual  settling  of 
present  desolation.* 

Besides  their  historic 
interest,  the  high  tina- 
jas  present  problems  in 
geology  and  in  meteor- 
ology ;  but  it  may  be 
noted  merely  that  they 
lie  on  the  lee  side  of  a 
rugged  range,  the  first 
to  catch  the  humid  air- 
drift  from  Gulf  of  Cal 
ifornia,  and  that  their 
catchment  gulch  di- 
v  i  d  e  s  exceptionally 
long  spurs  ot  the  nar- 
row sierra. 

Six  miles  north  of 
Tinajas  Altas  the  fifth 
camp-fire  is  lighted, 
and  the  team -stock 
revel  in  corn-meal 
while  the  saddle  ani- 
mals experiment  .sus- 
piciously with  hardtack 
and  other  man- feed  ; 
for  the  breakdowns  of 
the  supply  outfit  cost  a 
day  in  dearly  borne 
provender  as  well  as  in 
time. 

The  next — and  last 
— day  is  a  hard  one 
for  the  beasts,  since  the  way  skirts  the 
lower  slopes  of  a  plain  (alluvial  in  the 
valley  bottom,  but  sheetflood-carved 
above),  over  which  the  waters  from  a 
local  storm  in  the  mountains  flowed 
yesterday  —  flowed  not  in  coalescing 

*  Kino's  map  is  "Tabula  Californige  Anno 
1702.  Ex  autoptica  observatione  delineata  d 
R  P.  Chino  e  S.  I."  The  padre's  cartography, 
but  not  his  orthography,  has  been  followed 
in  many  if  not  most  later  maps  of  the  region. 

The  colloquial  rendering  of  the  name  intro- 
duces the  local  laison — it  is  lumped  as  Tina- 
haltas  (vowels  Spanish). 


The  lowest  and 


largest  is  confined  partly  by  great  boulders  and 
granitic  debris." 

streams  such  as  gather  on  humid  soils 
in  humid  air,  not  in  the  continuous 
sheetflood  formed  when  soil  and  air  are 
of  the  dryness  normal  to  the  desert,  but 
in  a  plexus  of  interlacing  rivulets  unit- 
ing and  dividing  every  few  yards  or 
rods,  and  digging  little  arroyos  across 
the  trail  to  the  average  number  of  a 
hundred  per  mile.  Into  these  the  wagon 
plunges  and  out  of  them  it  is  pulled  by 
the  fagged  mules  hour  after  hour,  until 
the  breaks  of  Gila  River  give  respite. 
From  daybreak  onward  Castle  Dome 


140 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


looms  on  the  northern  horizon  70  miles 
away,  and  plays  with  passing  cloudlets 
made  and  unmade  in  swift  succession; 
but  the  turreted  volcanic  mass  just  be- 
yond the  Gila  (christened  "  Klotho's 
Temple"  by  Mr.  Gill*)  is  more  anx- 
iously scanned  as  a  landmark  of  grow- 
ing promise.  Kven  before  midday  stock 
trails — the  first  seen  since  leaving  the 
Sonoyta  range — begin  to  appear.  In 
midafternoon  a  stray  cowboy  is  spoken 
by  Carroll  ;  but  it  is  long  after  nightfall 
of  the  sixth  day  from  Santo  Domingo 
before  the  animals  are  comforted  with 
hay  and  barley  from  the  single  store  in 
Gila  City. 

*  Eitfht  or  nine  miles  east  of  Gila  City  ;  lati- 
tude 32°  46',  longitude  114°  14',  altitude  1,800 
feet. 


A  LESSON  OF  THE  TRAIL 

No  traveler  over  the  Old  Yuma  Trail 
can  fail  to  feel  the  incongruity  of  its 
present  condition  with  its  past  history. 
It  is  the  way  of  the  western  world  to 
grow  in  population  and  wealth,  to  in- 
crease in  industrial  and  intellectual  ten- 
sion ;  yet  most  of  this  ancient  way  is 
peopled  only  by  graves,  enriched  but 
by  memories,  nearly  as  lost  to  labor 
and  to  thought  as  the  sand-tombed  cities 
of  Arabia  and  farther  Turkestan.  The 
routes  of  Cabeza  de  Vaca  and  de  Soto 
and  Coronado  are  gone  save  to  delving 
historians,  the  trans- Appalachian  roads 
of  our  own  grandsires  are  largely  for- 
gotten, many  of  the  trails  of  the  argo- 
nauts are  effaced  beyond  retracing  ;  bat 
America  probably  presents  no  other  lapse 


'The  turreted  volcanic  mass 


christened  '  Klotho's  Temple  '  by  Mr.  Gill." 


THE    OLD   YUMA   TRAIL 


141 


from  populous  activity  to  utter  desert  so 
complete  as  that  of  the  zone  trodden  by 
padre  Kino  and  five  generations  of  fol- 
lowers— and  the  lapse  seems  the  greater 
because  so  uncharacteristic  of  occidental 
progress. 

There   was   reason    enough    for   the 
abandonment  of  the  old  route  as  a  line 
of  travel  and  traffic ;  the  increasing  safety 
of  shipping  first  invaded  its  claims,  the 
partition  of  Mexico  next  curtailed  its 
functions,   and   the   railways   spanning 
the  continent  finally  tapped  its  reser- 
voirs at  both  termini  ;  yet  the  factors 
leading  to  the  abandonment  of  the  route 
only  partially  explain  the  desertion  of 
its  purlieus,  and  serve  rather  to  fix  at- 
tention on  the  fact  that  the  entire  zone 
traversed    by    the   trail   was   gradually 
impoverished  by  the  long-continued — 
and    short-sighted — overtaxing    of    its 
meager  resources.     When  the  earliest 
Caucasian  pioneers  came,  they  found  the 
province  peopled  sparsely  with  semi-mi- 
gratory Papago  Indians,  who  wandered 
afar  in  search  of  water,  located  fields  and 
villages  even  by  the  temporary  wettings 
of  chance  storms,  and  erected  shrines 
about  the  more  permanent  springs  and 
tinajas — Tinajas    Altas    among   others. 
They  also  found  a  fauna  of  deer  and 
antelope  and    bighorn    with    their  car- 
niverous  consociates,  as  well  as  birds, 
rodents,   reptiles,   and   insects   in   wide 
variety  and  moderate  abundance  ;  and 
as  the  basis  of  the  motile  life  they  found 
a  varied    flora   delicately   balanced  be- 
tween hard  habitat  and  dependent  fauna 
through  eons  of  adjustment.     True,  the 
aggregate  vitality  was  but  a  fraction  of 
that  characteristic  of  humid  lands  ;  yet 
the  deficiency  was  partly  made  up  by  a 
longer  individual  life  and  a  closer  vital 
economy  growing  out  of  the  exception- 
ally perfect  solidarity  characteristic  of 
the  living  things  of  arid  regions,  so  that 
the  sum  of  living  resources  was  suffi- 
cient for  reasonable  demands.     Two  or 
three  generations  of  Caucasians  drew  on 
these  resources  in  the  easy  way  of  rest- 


ful latitudes  without  serious  detriment  ; 
the  missionaries  and  couriers  followed 
tribesmen's   trails   to   tribal   domiciles, 
and  shared  water  and  food  with  or  with- 
out  material  exchange  ;  their   animals 
found    forage   in    grassy    and   shrubby 
spots,    while   they    were   able   to   take 
game  or  gather  cactus  fruits  in  season 
with  little  effort ;  and  so  long  as  they 
were  few,  the  vital  balance  established 
through  eons  of  earth-making  was  little 
disturbed.     With   the   third   or  fourth 
generation  and  the  gradually  increasing 
numbers  of  Caucasian  travelers,  the  re- 
sources began  to  suffer  ;  the  forage  grew 
scant,  the  wantonly  harried  cacti  with- 
drew from  the  nearer  borders,  the  big 
game  became  wary  and  betook  to  other 
ranges  ;  with  the  decimation  of  plants 
and  the  trampling  of  stock  the  soil  grew 
less  retentive  of  the  scant  moisture,  in 
a  ratio  probably  higher  than  that  follow- 
ing deforestation  of  humid  lands,  so  that 
the  meager  ground- water  disappeared, 
the  smaller  springs  went  dry,  and  the 
chance  tempest  brought  bane  rather  than 
the  boon  of  the  olden  time  ;  and  with 
each  decade   of   vital   degradation    the 
Papago  tribesmen  withdrew  to  remoter 
haunts,  or  else  degenerated  into  a  para- 
sitical   dependence    on    the   wells    and 
wastage  of  the  whites.     Still  the  nat- 
ural balance  was  not  utterly  destroyed 
until  the  Anglo-Saxon  came  with  that 
intense  energy  which  balks  at  no  obsta- 
cle, brooks  no  delay  ;  he  deepened  old 
wells  and  dug  new  to  catch  the  last  drops 
of  dwindling  ground-water  ;  he  not  only 
drove  herds  to  devastate  the  enfeebled 
flora  along  the  way,  but  stocked  the  ad- 
jacent ranges  with  cattle  and  sheep  to 
supply  the  needs  of  multiplying  travel  ; 
and   he  stopped  only   at  the  fortunate 
conjunction  of  railway-making  on  more 
northerly  lines  with  the  utter  eradica- 
tion  of   the   grasses   and  other  forage 
plants  along  the  old  route,  and  the  con- 
sequent extinction  of  the  useful  fauna 
and  destruction  of  the  minor  waters. 
The  American  desert  stands  apart  from. 


142          THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


"  Plains  still  mantled  with  herbage  and  grazed  by  herds  of  deer  as  in  pre-Columbian  times  " 


that  of  the  Old  World  in  superior  vital- 
ity ;  with  corresponding  conditions  of 
climate  and  soil,  a  peculiar  flora  of  leaf- 
less, thorny,- waxy-skinned,  light-utiliz- 
ing forms,  and  a  distinctive  fauna  take 
the  place  of  lifeless  sand,  and  the  char- 
acteristics of  fauna  and  flora  combine 
with  several  lines  of  geologic  evidence 
to  prove  that  the  arid  provinces  grew 
slowly  during  several  periods,  running 
at  least  from  the  early  Neocene  to  the 
present.  It  was  during  these  periods 
that  the  unparalleled  solidarity  of  our 
desert  life  was  gradually  developed  ;  * 

*As  pointed  out  elsewhere,  this  solidarit3' 
matured  on  certain  lines  in  agriculture  and 
concomitant  zooculture  in  the  very  province 
traversed  by  the  ancient  route.  Cf.  "  The 
Beginning  of  Agriculture,"  American  Anthro- 
pologist, vol.  viii,  1895,  pp.  350-375  ;  "  The 
Beginning  of  Zooculture,"  ibid.,  vol.  x,  1897, 
pp.  215-230. 


from  age  to  age  the  forms  and  forces  of, 
animal  and  vegetal  life  cooperated  in 
common  strife  against  sun  and  sand, 
and  were  forced  by  the  hard  environ- 
ment into  a  harmonious  interrelation  in 
which  none  could  dominate  without  risk 
of  starvation,  none  yield  unduly  with- 
out certainty  of  extinction.  Into  this 
complex  mechanism  the  prehistoric  for- 
bears of  the  Papago  insinuated  them- 
selves so  gently  as  scarce  to  disturb  the 
relations  of  parts  ;  into  the  same  mech- 
anism the  Papago  themselves  pushed 
their  way  harmlessly  when  driven  into 
the  outer  deserts  ;  but  the  natural  inter- 
relations were  too  delicate  to  withstand 
the  violent  entry  of  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
and  the  weaker  organisms  withered  be- 
fore him.  Other  provinces  have  suffered 
from  the  brash  vigor  of  Caucasian  con- 
quest ;  forests  have  been  sacrificed  and 


ADVANCES   IN    GEOGRAPHIC    KNOWLEDGE        143 


woodlands  despoiled  into  sterile  wastes; 
fields  have  been  ill-wrought  into  barren- 
ness and  then  turned  out  to  \vash  into 
neighboring  waterways,  thereby  ruin- 
ing both  hill  and  dale  ;  mines  and  quar- 
ries have  been  so  unwisely  worked  as  to 
check  other  industries  for  decades  and 
entail  public  losses  far  exceeding  per- 
sonal gains.  In  legion  ways  the  adjust- 
ment of  American  settlers  to  new  en- 
vironments has  been  destructive,  yet  no 
new  contacts  have  been  more  disastrous 
than  those  between  the  pioneers  from 
humid  fatherlands  and  the  finely -bal- 
anced vital  solidarities  of  arid  regions  ; 
and  of  all  the  examples  of  destructive 
contact  between  pioneers  and  precursors 
none  are  more  impressive  than  those 
so  clearly  attested  by  the  Old  Yuma 
Trail. 

Happily,  the  dark  lines  of  the  picture 
carry  a  brighter  complement:  Science — 
and  American  progress  is  but  science 
practically  applied — advances  through 
experiences,  both  of  success  and  failure; 
no  success  could  be  more  instructive 
than  the  failure  attested  by  the  aban- 


donment of  the  country  along  the  his- 
toric route;  and  this  failure  at  once 
attests  the  folly  of  disregarding  natural 
conditions  when  settlement  is  pushed 
into  unfamiliar  regions,  and  indicates 
the  wisdom  of  weighing  natural  condi- 
tions as  means  of  nature-conquest.  The 
natural  potentiality  of  the  country  trav- 
ersed by  the  old  trail  is  proved  by  the 
condition  of  the  neighboring  plains  on 
the  southern  side  of  the  Sonoran  bound- 
ary which  have  never  been  overstocked — 
plains  still  mantled  with  herbage  and 
grazed  by  herds  of  deer  as  in  pre-Colum- 
bian times ;  and  the  slow  resetting  of 
shrubbery  along  the  old  way  gives  defi- 
nite promise  of  restoration  to  the  early 
state,  while  the  moderate  fruitful  ness  of 
the  Sonoran  plains  points  a  way  in  which 
the  growing  resources  may  be  utilized 
by  patient  adjustment  of  industries  to 
natural  conditions. 

So  the  wisdom,  if  not  the  imperative 
necessity,  of  adjusting  means  to  condi- 
tions in  the  reclamation  of  arid  lands  is 
the  leadling  lesson  of  the  Old  Yuma 
Trail. 


ADVANCES   IN  GEOGRAPHIC    KNOWLEDGE 
DURING   THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY* 

BY  BRIG.-GEN.  A.  W.  GREELY,  CHIEF  SIGNAL  OFFICER, 

U.  S.  ARMY 


IN  these  days  geographic  exploration 
means  not  merely  the  topographic 
distribution  of  mountain  or  river, 
of  lake  or  plain,  but  also  the  determina- 
tion, in  a  cursory  manner  at  least,  of 
existent  vegetable  and  animal  life,   of 
climatic  conditions,  and  especially  of  the 
ethnology  of  inhabited  areas. 

*  Revised  and   republished  by  courtesy   of 
the  publishers  of  the  New  York  Tribune. 


In  forecasting  the  evolution  of  any 
aspect  of  the  twentieth  century  the 
soundest  base  must  be  the  advances  of 
the  nineteenth  century  along  like  lines 
of  research.  Judged  by  this  standard, 
the  present  century  will  perfect  the  aspi- 
rations of  the  explorer  of  the  last  century 
to  make  known  the  entire  surface  of  the 
earth.  Few  appreciate  the  enormous  ad- 
vances in  geographic  knowledge  dur- 


144        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


ing  the  last  one  hundred  years,  which 
may  be  summed  up  in  the  general  state- 
ment that  fully  60  per  cent  of  the  world's 
land  area  was  unexplored  in  1800,  while 
scarcely  10  per  cent  now  remains  un- 
known. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  last  cen- 
tury the  four  greatest  geographic  prob- 
lems were  the  Northeast  Passage,  the 
Northwest  Passage,  the  sources  of  the 
Nile,  and  the  North  Polar  quest  ;  the 
last  only  remains. 

ONE  ARCTIC  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

The  Northwest  Passage  first  yielded 
its  secrets  to  the  energetic  explorers  of 
this  age,  the  result  being  attained  by  a 
series  of  voyages,  almost  entirely  under 
British  auspices,  that  are  unsurpassed 
in  number,  duration,  and  heroism.  At- 
tempts for  a  Northwest  Passage,  inter- 
rupted by  the  death  of  the  great  naviga- 
tor, James  Cook,  who  lost  his  life  therein, 
were  renewed  owing  to  the  success  of 
William  Scoresby ,  Jr. ,  in  exploring  East 
Greenland,  iSij-22.  Prosecuted  both 
by  land  and  sea,  material  advances  came 
through  Parry,  Ross,  and  Franklin, 
18 19-' 35,  while  the  voyages  of  Austin, 
Belcher,  Collinson,  McClintock,  Mc- 
Clure,  Rae,  and  others  in  search  of 
Franklin,  1845-' 59,  completely  solved 
the  mystery. 

Parry,  in  three  notable  voyages,  ex- 
plored the  greater  part  of  the  islands  and 
waterways  north  of  America  half  way 
from  Baffin  Bay  to  Bering  Strait,  pass- 
ing north  of  the  magnetic  pole.  John 
Ross  explored  the  Felix  Boothia  Penin- 
sula, the  north  point  of  the  continent 
of  America,  while  his  lieutenant  and 
nephew,  James  C.  Ross,  located  the 
north  magnetic  pole  at  Cape  Adelaide, 
70  degrees  5  minutes  north,  96  degrees 
44  minutes  west.  The  north  coasts  of 
America  were  outlined  by  the  land  jour- 
neys of  Franklin,  Beechey,  Dease,  and 
Simpson,  1819-' 46,  from  King  William 
Land  west  to  Point  Barrow. 


Other  notable  advances  have  been 
made  in  Arctic  America  by  Inglefield, 
Kane,  Hall,  Nares,  and  Greely  in  Grin- 
nell  Land  and  Northwest  Greenland  ; 
by  Drygalski,  Geisecke,  Garde,  Holm, 
Steenstrup,  and  other  Danes  in  Western 
Greenland  ;  by  Scoresby,  Graah,  Kolde- 
wey,  Payer,  Nordenskjold,  Garde,  Cla- 
vering,  Holm,  Ryder,  and  Peary  on  the 
east  coast,  while  Nansen  and  Peary  have 
crossed  the  inland  ice,  the  latter  to  the 
extreme  southeastern  point  of  the  new 
land  to  the  north  of  Greenland,  discov- 
ered by  Greely  in  1882. 

ADVANCES  TOWARD  THE  NORTH 
POLE 

Spitzbergen  has  been  fully  explored  by 
Gaimard,  Nordenskjold,  Torrell,  Leigh 
Smith,  and  Convvay.  Weyprecht  and 
Payer  discovered  Franz  Josef  Land, 
whose  limits  have  been  extended  and 
defined  by  Leigh  Smith,  Jackson,  Xan- 
sen,  and  Wellman.  De  Long  drifted 
from  Bering  Strait  to  the  New  Siberian 
Islands,  and  Nansen' s  extraordinary 
continuation  of  De  Long's  drift  around 
Spitzbergen  has  most  materially  ad- 
vanced our  knowledge  of  the  Siberian 
and  Polar  Seas. 

Advances  toward  the  North  Pole  have 
been  made  through  the  exertions  of 
Scoresby,  8r  degrees  30  minutes  north  ; 
Parry,  82  degrees  45  minutes  north  ; 
Nares,  83  degrees  20  minutes  north  ; 
Greely,  83  degrees  24  minutes  north  (the 
most  northerly  land  as  yet);  Nansen,  86 
degrees  14  minutes  north,  and  Abruzzi, 
86  degrees  33  minutes  north,  within  207 
geographic  miles  of  the  Pole. 

As  to  the  Northeast  Passage,  Nor- 
denskjold, having  faith  in  both  its  scien- 
tific value  and  practicability,  selected 
Palander  as  his  navigator.  Sailing 
from  Tromso  in  1878,  they  passed  Kara 
Sea  successfully  and  readily  rounded 
the  north  cape  of  Asia.  Beset  by  ice 
and  obliged  to  winter  within  120  miles 
of  Bering  Strait,  Nordenskjold  com- 


ADVANCES   IN   GEOGRAPHIC   KNOWLEDGE         145 


pleted  the  circumnavigation  of  Asia  in 

1879. 

Within  the  Antarctic  circle,  to  the 
south  of  Patagonia,  Palmer,  Belling- 
hausen,  Biscoe,  Larsen,  and  Gerlache 
discovered  Palmer  Land  and  adjacent 
islands.  To  the  south  of  New  Zealand 
Belleny  found  islands,  and  James  C.  Ross 
added  to  his  arctic  laurels  by  discovering 
ice-clad  Victoria  Land,  with  its  flaming 
volcanoes,  and  in  locating  the  south  mag- 
netic pole.  South  of  Kerguelen  is  the 
Enderby  Land  of  Biscoe,  while  south- 
east of  Tasmania  an  archipelago  of  des- 
olate islands,  located  by  Wilkes  and 
D'Urville,  marks  the  northern  limit  of 
ice- clad  Antarctica. 

EXPLORATION  OF   AUSTRALIA 

The  greatest  southern  confederacy, 
Australia,  has  a  European  population 
exceeding  five  millions  ;  but  in  1800 
its  two  thousand  settlers  did  not  even 
have  a  county  with  a  recognized  name. 
As  New  Holland,  it  appeared  on  the 
best  maps,  a  featureless  central  area, 
with  its  outlined  coast  largely  con- 
jectural. Surveys  of  the  coast,  begun 
by  Bass  and  Flinders,  were  finished  by 
King,  1822  ;  Wickham  and  Stokes, 
1 837-' 43.  Inland,  Hughes  solved  the 
hydrographic  problem  of  the  Murray 
watershed,  Eyre  traced  the  south  coast 
along  the  Great  Australian  Bight.  The 
central  desert  was  made  known  by 
Mitchell  and  Sturt,  while  Grey  and 
Gregory  explored  in  the  northwest  and 
Leichardt  and  Kennedy  in  the  northeast. 
The  most  fruitful  journey  was  that  of 
Stuart,  1 858-' 62,  from  the  inhabited 
south  coast  to  the  extreme  north,  which 
opened  a  fertile,  well-watered  district  to 
colonization.  The  western  desert  has 
been  explored  here  and  there  by  Forrest, 
Warburton,  and  Giles,  the  last  named 

K having  twice  traversed  the  great  Sahara, 
:ast  and  west. 
New  Zealand  first  came  to  our  knowl- 
:dge  by   missionary   labors,    1814-' 30, 
, 


and  later  by  commercial  extensions  and 
gold-hunting.  New  Guinea  has  been 
explored  in  the  last  half  century  by 
Wallace,  Meyer,  Forbes,  Von  Schleinitz, 
and  Dallmann. 

OPENING  UP  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Of  the  Americas,  the  longest  known 
is  least  explored.  South  America,  how- 
ever, was  fortunate  in  the  beginning  of 
the  century,  1799-1804,  with  such  in- 
vestigators as  Humboldt  and  Bonpland, 
who  traversed  Venezuela,  determined 
the  remarkable  bifurcation  of  the  Ori- 
noco, visited  Magdalena,  Quito,  and  the 
volcanoes.  This  journey  was  not  onl}' 
locally  important,  for  it  gave  an  extra- 
ordinary impulse  to  the  comprehensive 
study  of  the  earth.  Von  Eschwege, 
Von  Wied,  Saint-Hillaire,  Spix,  and 
Martius  explored  the  interior  of  Brazil 
from  the  Ama/.on  Basin  ;  D'Orbigny 
and  Castelnau  devoted  themselves  to  the 
geography  of  the  central  regions  be- 
tween the  Rio  de  la  Plata  and  the  Ama- 
zon ;  Darwin,  Wilkes,  and  Gillis  ex- 
plored the  coast  lines  of  the  continent  ; 
Wallace  and  Bates  did  wonderful  scien- 
tific work  in  the  Amazon  Basin,  followed 
by  Agassiz  and  a  host  of  other  explorers. 
Of  the  tributary  basins  of  the  Amazon, 
Steinen  has  mapped  the  Xingu,  Church 
the  Madeira,  Chandless  and  Labre  the 
Purus. 

In  the  Guianas  Schomburgk's  re- 
searches are  the  most  valuable.  In  late 
years  the  most  important  explorations 
are  doubtless  those  of  the  French  inter- 
national polar  expedition  at  Cape  Horn, 
under  Martial. 

PATHMAKERS  IN  NORTH  AMERICA 

Of  the  continents  none  other  has  so 
benefited  by  the  explorations  of  last  cen- 
tur\-  as  North  America.  To  the  genius, 
tact,  and  energy  of  Humboldt  was  early 
(1804)  due  modern  geographical  knowl- 
edge of  Spanish  America,  which  was 


146        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


materially  increased  by  the  explorations 
of  Pike  from  St.  Louis  to  Chihuahua, 
via  the  Kansas,  Arkansas,  and  the  Rio 
Grande. 

Kotzebue  and  Zagostin  in  the  first 
half,  and  Ball,  Kennicott,  and  Allen  in 
the  last  half,  of  the  century  have  out- 
lined the  general  features  of  Alaska.  In 
the  Stikine,  Klondike,  Tanana,  Nome, 
and  Koyukuk  regions  the  gold  hunters 
have  explored  thoroughly.  In  Canada 
the  early  discoveries  of  Franklin,  Rich- 
ardson, Rae,  and  Back  have  been  sup- 
plemented by  Petitot  in  the  Macken- 
zie Basin,  Dawson  and  Ogilvie  in  the 
Yukon  watershed,  Bell  and  Tyrrell 
around  Hudson  Bay,  Boas  in  Baffin 
Land,  and  Low  in  Labrador. 

As  regards  the  United  States,  the  coun- 
trj"  west  of  the  Mississippi  was  almost 
entirely  unknown  in  1800.  The  early 
trans- Mississippi  explorations  form  one 
phase  of  the  history  of  the  United  States 
Army.  The  most  fruitful  in  results  of 
such  journey  sis  that  of  Lewis  and  Clarke 
(i8o4-'o6).  They  ascended  the  Mis- 
souri from  mouth  to  source,  crossed  the 
continental  divide,  traced  thence  the 
Snake  and  Columbia  to  the  ocean,  and 
returned  via  the  Yellowstone.  For  the 
first  time  the  United  States  was  crossed 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  This 
demonstration  of  the  practicability  of 
overland  travel  was  an  essential  factor 
in  the  occupanc>r  of  Oregon,  which  gave 
the  first  foothold  for  the  American  on 
the  Pacific  Coast. 

MAPPING  THE  GREAT  WEST 

Pike  explored  the  valleys  of  the  upper 
Mississippi,  Arkansas,  and  Rio  Grande, 
crossed  part  of  Chihuahua  and  Texas, 
then  unknown  countries.  Bonneville 
(1832-' 36)  explored  the  valleys  of  the 
Platte,  Green,  and  Yellowstone,  and, 
pioneer  of  the  Oregon  trail, twice  crossed 
to  the  Columbia,  passing  west  via  the 
Snake  River,  the  Grand  Ronde,  and 
Blue  Mountains.  He  also  made  known 


the  great  basins  of  Salt  Lake  and  Hiim- 
boldt  River  and  the  pass  across  the 
Nevadas  to  the  Sacramento.  Bonne- 
ville first  correctly  charted  the  hydrog- 
raph)r  of  the  trans-Rocky  Mountain 
regions,  and  eliminated  the  Rio  Buena- 
ventura and  other  mythical  streams. 
Fremont's  journeys  were  important  as 
initiating  an  extensive  series  of  scientific 
explorations.  Kearney  surveyed  the 
boundaries  of  Texas  and  Louisiana, 
Boone  the  country  between  the  Arkan- 
sas and  Canadian,  and  Emory  from 
Leavenworth  to  San  Diego  via  the  Ar- 
kansas, Del  Xorte,  and  Gila. 

Among  the  many  expeditions  may  be 
mentioned  that  of  Simpson  to  the  Navajo 
country,  Stansbury  to  Salt  Lake,  Sit- 
greaves  to  the  Zuiii  and  Colorado  Rivers, 
and  Mullen  from  Walla  Walla  to  Fort 
Benton.  Important  surveys  are  those  of 
the  Pacific  Railway  route  by  McClellan, 
Whipple,  Parke, Williamson, and  Derby; 
the  Mexican  boundary  by  Emory,  the 
northwestern  boundary  (i857-'6i),  and 
in  later  years  those  of  King.  Hayden, 
Powell,  and  Wheeler,  which  have  eluci- 
dated most  of  the  geographical  problems 
in  the  United  States. 

RIVALRY  IN  ASIA  BEGAN  EARLY 

In  the  geographical  as  in  the  political 
evolution  of  Asia  the  potent  forces  have 
been  Great  Britain  and  Russia,  so  that 
Northern  and  Southern  Asia  have  been 
almost  separate  fields  of  enterprise  for 
the  dominant  nation,  with  Central  Asia 
as  debatable  ground  for  rivalry  by  both 
nations.  In  Northern  Asia  explorations 
in  the  early  century  were  confined 
largely  to  the  local  extensions  of  knowl- 
edge, except  additions  to  the  New  Si- 
berian Islands  by  Samkif,  Sirovatskof, 
Hedenstrom,  and  Sannikof,  1805-'!!  ; 
of  the  Siberian  Ocean  by  Wrangell 
and  Anjou,  1820— '23,  and  in  Nova 
Zembla  by  Liitke,  1821-' 24;  Pachtns- 
sow,  1 832-' 35,  and  Baer  and  Zivolka 
i837-'3H. 


ADVANCES    IN    GEOGRAPHIC    KNOWLEDGE        147 


The  foundation  of  the  Imperial  Rus- 
sian Geographical  Society  in  1845  gave 
impetus  and  direction  to  Asiatic  discov- 
eries, increased  knowledge  of  the  Rus- 
sian Empire  being  the  aim.  From  1849 
to  1857  Hoffman,  Aksakof,  and  others 
explored  the  Ural  region  and  the  ethno- 
graphic features  of  Russia  proper  and  of 
Western  Siberia.  Extending  in  scope 
from  1857  to  1871,  besides  Siberian  re- 
searches in  Amur,  Usuri,  and  Saghalin, 
the  Caucasian  and  Aral-Caspian  regions 
were  explored  in  the  southwest,  while  to 
the  east  many  expeditions  entered  Tur- 
kestan, Manchuria,  Khorassan,and  Mon- 
golia. 

Between  1871  and  1885  Central  Asia, 
Mongolia,  and  Western  China  were 
•explored,  largely  through  Prjevalsky, 
and  international  polar  stations  were 
-established  on  the  Lena  and  in  Nova 
Zembla.  Severtsoff  and  Fedchenko  ex- 
plored Turkestan  minutely ;  the  deserts 
of  northwestern  Siberia  and  Lake  Baikal 
were  examined  and  a  sea  route  opened 
from  Tobolsk  by  way  of  the  Kara  Sea 
to  St.  Petersburg. 

TIBET  IS  A  MYSTERY  YET 

During  the  last  fifteen  years  attention 
has  been  paid  to  Caucasia,  Turkestan, 
the  Amur,  and  Black  Sea  regions.  In 
these  years  perhaps  the  most  interest- 
ing explorations  are  those  of  Hedin, 
who  crossed  the  desert  of  moving  sand 
hills  between  the  Yarkand  and  Khotan 
Rivers,  outlined  the  northern  rim  of  the 
great  Tibetan  Plateau,  and  examined 
Lob  Nor  Basin. 

Explorations  in  Southern  Asia  origi- 
nated in  the  desire  to  extend  inland  the 
sphere  of  British  influence.  Political 
considerations  speedily  entered  into  the 
problem,  and  those  barriers  proved  more 
difficult  to  surmount  than  physical  ob- 
stacles. In  reaching  the  Himalayan 
foothills,  and  later  in  passing  across  the 
ranges  into  Afghanistan  and  Tibet,  the 
•explorer  necessarily  awaited  brief  inter- 


vals in  the  wars  of  conquest  and  occu- 
pation. 

Manning  succeeded  in  entering  Tibet 
in  1811,  but  was  soon  expelled.  Non- 
intercourse  was  so  rigidly  enforced  that 
the  British  surveys  had  recourse  to  se- 
lected native  agents,  and  most  of  the  early 
advances  were  made  through  secret  jour- 
neys of  pundits,  among  whom  Chandra 
Das  stands  foremost.  As  usual,  much 
has  been  learned  by  missionary  labors, 
especially  in  Tibet,  through  Hue  and 
Desgodins,  the  latter  also  contributing 
much  to  a  knowledge  of  Indo-China. 
In  recent  years  both  countries  have  been 
explored  by  Rockhill,  Bonvalot,  Little- 
dale,  Szechenyi,  Henri  of  Orleans,  and 
others,  especially  the  pundit  Nain  Singh, 
under  conditions  that  leave  much  to  be 
added. 

Japan  has  opened  her  unknown  empire 
to  the  world.  While  much  has  been  done 
by  Japanese  travelers  to  make  its  geog- 
raphy known,  yet  the  geological  re- 
searches of  Naumann  should  be  noted. 

MAP  OF  AFRICA  FILLED  IN 

The  extent  to  which  exploration 
changed  the  map  of  Africa  during  the 
nineteenth  century  is  known  only  to 
professional  geographers.  It  is  true  that 
in  1800  the  entire  coast  of  Africa  was 
known  with  some  definiteness  through 
the  exertions  of  Portuguese  navigators 
in  previous  centuries.  Yet  apart  from 
the  valley  of  the  Nile  geographic  knowl- 
edge of  the  interior  was  confined  to  a 
scant  hundred  miles  southward  from 
the  Mediterranean  and  northward  from 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  to  the 
estuaries  of  the  Zambezi,  Kongo,  and 
Niger. 

Geographic  knowledge  stopped  al- 
most within  sight  of  the  sea  or  the 
Lower  Nile.  Scarcely  fifty  years  since 
there  appeared,  from  5  degrees  north  to 
10  degress  north,  on  the  best  maps  pf 
Africa,  the  legend,  "  Kong  Range, 
mountains  supposed  to  extend  across 


148         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


the  continent."  Today  it  is  known 
that  this  central  area  forms  part  of  the 
great  Kongo  Basin,  with  a  population 
of  more  than  forty  millions. 

In  outlining  the  march  of  exploration 
toward  the  interior  of  the  "  Dark  Con- 
tinent ' '  only  the  most  succinct  account 
is  possible.  For  clearness  of  statement, 
explorations  are  treated  under  five  gen- 
eral heads  :  First,  trans-Saharan,  from 
the  Mediterranean  ;  second,  the  Niger 
regions  ;  third,  the  lake  regions  near 
the  Upper  White  Nile  ;  fourth,  the 
Zambezian  region,  and,  fifth,  the  Kongo 
Basin.  , 

According  to  different  definitions  of  a 
desert,  the  Sahara  varies  in  area  from 
2,500,000  to  3,500,000  square  miles,  of 
which  the  eastern  third  is  generally 
known  as  the  Libyan  Desert  .  Hitherto 
this  desert  area,  with  scant  water,  in- 
tense heat,  and  whirling  duststorms, 
interposed  an  inaccessible  barrier  be- 
tween the  Hemitic  nations  of  the  Medi- 
terranean coast  and  the  negro  tribes  of 
the  Sudan. 

SAHARA'S  BARRIERS  OVERCOME 

Explorations  of  the  Sahara  were  fruit- 
less until  Oudney,  Denham,  and  Clap- 
perton  crossed  (182  2-' 24)  from  Tripoli 
to  Lake  Chad,  in  the  Sudan.  Laing, fol- 
lowing, crossed  from  Tripoli  via  Ghad- 
ames  and  Tuat  to  Timbuktu,  the  mys- 
terious city  of  strangely  exaggerated 
importance  from  previous  centuries. 
Panet,  Vincent,  Duveyrier,  and  Lenz 
explored  the  desert  between  Senegal 
and  Southeastern  Algeria. 

It  was  Earth  who  gave  the  first  defi- 
nite account  of  the  Saharan  region  after 
a  journey  of  great  extent  and  impor- 
tance. Starting  from  Tripoli ,  he  crossed 
the  Sahara  to  Lake  Chad,  passed  North- 
ern Hausaland  to  the  Niger  at  Say,  and 
thence  reached  Timbuktu.  Returning 
northeast  through  Sokoto  to  Kukawa, 
he  explored  Bornu.  Earth's  journeys 
were  of  great  value,  for  he  not  only  made 


known  to  the  world  the  existence  and 
accessibility  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
square  miles  of  fertile  territory,  but  he 
also  gave  in  five  volumes  an  enormous 
amount  of  geographical  information,  in 
which  he  treated  quite  thoroughly  the 
ethnology  of  the  various  tribes  of  the 
Central  Sudan.  His  successor,  Rohlfs, 
after  exploring  Southern  Morocco,  pene- 
trated the  Sahara  to  the  oases  of  Tuat 
and  Ghadames,  and  those  of  the  districts 
of  Fezzan  and  Tibesti.  He  then  en 
from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Guinea 
coast  via  Bornu  and  Lagos,  on  the  Niger, 
the  first  European  to  make  the  journey. 
Later  (i873-'78)  he  explored  the  oases 
in  the  Libyan  Desert. 

The  Sahara,  instead  of  being  a  low 
desert  of  marine  origin,  is  an  elevated 
plateau,  which  has  been  enormously  de- 
nudated  by  the  disintegration  of  its  rocks 
through  temperature  changes  and  the 
distribution  of  its  dust  by  hrgh  winds.  It 
is  not  entirely  rainless  ;  has  many  fertile 
oases  and  only  needs  abundant  water  to 
produce  luxuriant  vegetation. 

The  first  Europeans  to  cross  Africa 
from  east  to  west  north  of  the  equator 
were  Matteucci  and  Massari,  who  trav- 
eled from  Suakin  via  Kordofan,  Wadai, 
and  Kano  to  the  Niger.  Nachtigal 
(1869-' 70)  made  a  journey  from  Tripoli 
via  Fezzan  to  the  Libyan  Desert,  where 
he  explored  the  remarkable  mountain- 
ous region  of  Tibesti.  Examining  the 
Lake  Chad  district,  he  reached  Egypt 
via  Wadai  and  Darfur. 

NIGER  AND  NILE  AN  OPEN  BOOK 

The  mystery  of  the  Niger,  long  er- 
roneously supposed  to  flow  through  the 
Sudan  to  the  west,  was  partly  solved  by 
Mungo  Park,  who,  starting  from  Gam- 
bia, in  his  first  journey  reached  Segu, 
on  the  Niger.  His  second  expedition 
(1805)  ended  in  failure.  Clapperton, 
renewing  the  survey,  perished,  but  his 
faithful  assistant,  Richard  Lander,  defi- 
nitely solved  (1830)  the  mystery  of  the 


ADVANCES   IN   GEOGRAPHIC    KNOWLEDGE 


149 


Niger  by  descending  from  Bussa  to  the 
mouth  of  the  stream. 

French  energy  has  explored  Senegal 
and  Gambia  by  the  journeys  of  Rubault, 
Mollien,  De  Beauford,  and  especially 
Caillie. 

The  great  mystery  of  the  Nile  sources, 
after  twenty  centuries  of  speculation, 
has  been  solved  by  the  labors  of  various 
explorers,  most  largely  by  Baker,  Speke, 
and  Stanley.  Its  largest  lake  source, 
Victoria  Nyanza,  was  discovered  by 
Speke,  who  missed  Albert  Nyanza. 
Baker  discovered  the  source  of  the  Blue 
(Abyssinian)  Nile  and  the  Albert  Ny- 
anza of  the  main  or  White  Nile.  To 
Stanley  belongs  the  honor  of  the  dis- 
covery of  the  remotest  source,  Albert 
Edward  Nyanza,  which  feeds  the  Albert 
Nyanza  through  the  Semliki  River. 

The  fabled  Mountains  of  the  Moon 
have  given  place  in  Eastern  Africa  to  a 
most  remarkable  lacustrine  system.  The 
vast  equatorial  lakes  cover  extensive  re- 
gions, feed  some  of  the  largest  rivers  of 
the  world,  and  by  their  transportation 
facilities  favor  commerce.  Their  cen- 
tral situation  between  the  Cape  and 
Cairo,  convenient  to  the  Indian  Ocean 
and  on  the  confines  of  the  Kongo  Basin, 
caused  them  to  be  recognized  as  the  cen- 
tral key  to  African  domination  by  Ger- 
many and  Great  Britain,  who  now  con- 
trol the  region. 

The  largest  lake,  Tanganyika,  was 
discovered  by  Burton,  while  Livingstone 
contributed  Nyassa,  Moero,  Bangweolo, 
and  others.  Joseph  Thompson,  explor- 
ing south  from  Tanganyika,  discovered 
Lake  Rukwa  and  also  traversed  un- 
known Masailand. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  GREAT  WORK 

The  discovery  of  the  equatorial  lakes 
was  of  subordinate  import  to  that  of  the 
Kongo  Basin,  which  grew  out  of  mis- 
sionary labors  in  South  Africa.  To  the 
genius  and  energy  of  two  men,  David 
Livingstone  and  Henry  M.  Stanley,  are 


primarily  due  the  exploration  and  util- 
ization of  the  vast  unexplored  regions 
between  the  Sudan  and  the  Orange 
River. 

Unquestionably  the  missionary  Liv- 
ingstone, who  settled  in  Bechuanaland 
in  1841,  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  Afri- 
can explorers.  First  discovering  Lake 
Ngami,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
Zambezi  Valley,  and  practically  covered 
this  basin  in  1851-' £6,  and  later,  in 
1 858-' 64,  explored  Lake  Nyassa  and 
the  adjacent  country.  Most  important 
results  flowed  directly  and  indirectly 
from  the  last  journeys  of  his  life,  in 
i866-'73,  when,  crossing  the  watershed 
to  the  very  sources  of  the  Kongo,  he 
discovered  Lakes  Moero  and  Bangweolo, 
the  Luapula  and  Lualaba  Rivers,  now 
recognized  branches  of  the  Kongo. 

STANLEY 

Stanley,  who  found  the  long-lost  Liv- 
ingstone, completed  the  exploration  of 
the  main  Kongo  Basin  in  a  journey 
(1875-' 78)  which  in  its  discoveries  and 
results  is  unequaled  in  African  explora- 
tion. His  circumnavigation  of  the  great 
lakes,  Victoria  Nyanza  and  Tanganyika, 
was  important,  but  the  crossing  to  the 
watershed  of  the  Lualaba,  which  he 
proved  to  be  the  Kongo  by  following  it 
to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  was  a  journey  of 
unsurpassed  courage,  persistency,  and 
resourcefulness.  His  return  to  found 
the  Kongo  State  was  followed  by  exten- 
sive discoveries,  such  as  Lakes  Leopold 
and  Mantumba,  the  Ubangi,  Kasai,  and 
other  affluents  of  the  mighty  river.  Stan- 
ley's geographic  laurels  were  increased 
by  his  search  for  Emin  Pasha,  when  he 
crossed  Africa  from  the  junction  of  the 
Kongo  and  the  Aruwini  over  the  Bantu 
borderland.  He  discovered  not  only 
an  extensive  and  almost  impassable  for- 
est, but  also  the  ultimate  lake  source  of 
the  White  Nile,  Albert  Edward  Nyanza. 

Stanley's  exploration  of  the  Kongo 
Basin  was  a  potential  force,  second  only 


150         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


to  that  of  Columbus'  discovery  of  Amer- 
ica. Each  explorer  opened  up  a  new 
continent,  and  gave  rise  to  scientific  and 
philanthropic  schemes  which  affected 
the  progress  of  the  world. 

Europe  awakened  to  the  importance 
of  the  Kongo  Basin,  with  its  great  lakes, 
its  ten  thousand  miles  of  navigable  riv- 
ers, which  leave  no  part  of  the  basin 
one  hundred  miles  distant;  its  fertile 
valleys,  its  anim'al  life  and  vegetable 
resources,  and  its  millions  of  inhabit- 
ants. Africa  speedily  became  the  center 
of  commercial  exploitation,  which  was 
not  confined  to  private  enterprise.  Most 
fortunately,  by  act  of  international  con- 
ference the  Kongo  Free  State,  with  an 
area  of  nearly  a  million  square  miles, 
became  independent.  Presenting  the 
greatest  natural  possibilities,  it  practij 
cally  bears,  in  interest  and  importance, 
the  same  relation  to  Africa  as  does  the 
watershed  of  the  Mississippi  and  its 
tributaries  to  the  United  States. 

By  rail  and  steamboat  one  now  travels 
from  the  west  coast,  through  the  Kongo 
State,  more  than  half  way  across  Africa. 
Its  revenue  is  counted  by  tens  of  mill- 
ions of  francs,  its  exports  and  imports 
increase  steadily,  and,  apart  from  the 
12,000,000  inhabitants  of  the  French 
Kongo,  it  has  a  population  of  30,000,000. 
The  effect  of  the  geographic  evolution 
of  Africa  upon  Europe  may  be  esti- 
mated by  the  statement  that  Belgium, 
in  its  relations  with  the  Kongo  State, 
deals  with  a  country  whose  area  is 
one  hundred  times  its  own,  and  that  of 
the  1 1,500,000  square  miles  of  Africa 
all  but  500,000  are  European  depen- 
dencies. 

OCEANOGRAPHY  A  NEW  ART 

As  to  oceanography,  a  development 
of  the  nineteeirfh  century,  space  only 
permits  allusion  to  the  work  of  Sigs- 
bee,  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  Carpenter, 
Thomson,  and  Norwegian  savants  in  the 
North  Atlantic,  and  Nares  and  Murray 


in  the  Challenger  expedition.  The  lat- 
ter work, under  Murrav's  exposition,  has 
outlined  the  main  features  of  the  oceanic 
world  for  the  twentieth  century  to  ex- 
plore and  chart  in  detail. 

As  to  the  twentieth  century,  it  should 
be  noted  that  pioneer  discoveries  are 
yielding  steadily  to  scientific  explora- 
tions. Future. work  will  trend  toward 
the  outlining  of  existent  and  possible 
relations  between  man  and  his  geo- 
graphic environment.  In  this  sense 
there  remain  numerous  geographic  prob- 
lems whose  satisfactory  solution  will  tax 
many  generations  of  scientific  explorers. 
Such,  for  instance,  are  current  investi- 
gations as  to  the  acclimatization  of 
Europeans  in  tropical  Africa  and  the 
distribution  of  underground  streams  in 
the  arid  regions  of  Australia  and  the 
United  States. 

Reverting  to  pioneer  discoveries,  the 
twentieth  century,  despite  unceasing 
efforts  of  this  age,  inherits  an  extensive 
legacy  of  unknown  lands.  Exploration 
for  exploration's  sake  will  for  many 
years  find  ample  scope  in  untraversed 
polar  regions,  Arctic  and  Antarctic, 
where  the  attainment  of  the  Poles  will 
continue  to  be  largely  the  end  in  view. 

Of  unexplored  areas  West  Australia 
now  presents  the  most  extensive,  its 
vast  desert  having  been  examined  only 
here  and  there  along  routes  hundreds  of 
miles  apart. 

While  North  America  has  large, 
vaguely  known  districts  only  in  Mexico 
and  Central  America,  yet  South  America 
presents  many  fields  of  great  promise  to 
adventurous  men.  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Andes 
in  Ecuador,  Colombia,  and  Brazil.  In 
the  western  half  of  the  drainage  basin 
of  the  Amazon  exploration  has  touched 
only  the  banks  of  navigable  streams. 
Our  knowledge  is  largely  conjectural  as 
to  the  extent  and  distribution  of  its  for- 
ests and  upland  and  of  the  existent  con- 
ditions of  its  fauna,  flora,  and  inhabit- 
ants. 


THE  WORLD 

AT  THE 
ENDOFTHEXYlll  CENTURY 

Un«xplor«d 
Explored 


THE  WORLD 

AT  THE 

ENDOFTNEXIXCENTURY 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


VIRGIN   FIELDS  REMAINING 

Even  in  Africa,  which  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century  has  engrossed  the  zeal  and 
energj'  of  explorers,  there  is  much  yet 
to  be  made  known  and  charted.  Not 
only  is  there  great  work  to  be  done  in 
the  Libyan  Desert  and  the  Central  Sa- 
hara, but  even  the  country  of  the  Tau- 
rigs,  in  Western  Sahara,  needs  thorough 
exploration.  South  of  Abyssinia  and 
northwest  of  Lake  Rudolf  is  almost 
virgin  ground.  The  most  interesting 
areas  are  the  primeval  forests  in  the 
basins  of  the  Ubangi  and  Aruwimi. 
These  regions  invite  naturalists  and  eth- 
nologists to  reveal  to  the  world  their 
fauna,  flora,  and  ethnology,  and  espe- 
cially to  correlate  information  on  the 
pygmies  of  Du  Chaillu,  Stanley,  and 
Schweinfiirth. 


The  new  year  presents  such  political 
complications  as  insure  tremendous 
changes  in  eastern  Asia  during  the 
twentieth  century.  As  rehabilitated 
China  concedes  extended  spheres  of  for- 
eign influence,  geographical  knowledge 
will  grow  apace.  Gradually  the  great 
blanks  in  Manchuria,  Mongolia,  Til>et, 
and  Indo-China  will  be  filled  on  maps  of 
Asia.  Like  advances  may  be  expected 
as  to  Arabia,  Sumatra,  Borneo,  the 
Malay  Peninsula,  and  especially  the 
Philippine  Archipelago.  In  the  last- 
named  region  the  almost  untraversed 
islands  of  Mindanao,  Mindora,  and  Pal- 
awan will  soon  yield  to  the  energetic 
and  intelligent  explorer  the  long-hidden 
secrets  of  nature  as  to  their  fauna,  flora, 
and  capabilities  of  service  to  mankind 
in  general  and  to  the  United  States  in 
particular.* 


MEXICO   OF    TODAY 

BY  SENOR   DR.  DON  JUAN  N.   NAVARRO,  CONSUL-GENERAL  OF 
MEXICO   IN   NEW  YORK  CITY 


MY  object  in  preparing  this  paper 
is  to  present  to  the  members 
of  the  National   Geographic 
Society  and  to  the  readers  of  its  journal 
some  well-ascertained   facts    about  the 
Mexico  of  today  and  the  many  natural 
and  commercial  attractions  which  make 
it  one  of  the  best  places  in  which  to  in- 
vest capital  with  security  and  the  prom- 

*  Other  papers  on  the  advance  in  geograph- 
ical knowledge  during  the  past  one  hundred 
years  are  : 

"The  Progress  of  Geography  during  the 
Nineteenth  Century."  By  Gilbert  H.  Gros- 
venor.  Appendix  to  the  Report  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  for 
1900. 

"The  Transformation  of  the  Map  (1825- 
1900),"  By  Joseph  Sohn.  Scribner's  Maga- 
zine, March,  1901. 


ise  of  a  speedy  and  splendid  return.  Be- 
fore entering  upon  my  subject  I  wish 
to  state  that  my  words  and  opinions  are 
made  on  my  own  responsibility,  and 
are  in  no  sense  semi-official.  In  speak- 
ing of  my  own  country  I  can  hardly  be 
required  to  be  impartial  in  my  opinions, 
but  in  the  statement  of  facts  I  shall  en- 
deavor to  give  not  only  my  own  private 

"A  Century  of  Exploration.''  By  Cyrus  C. 
Adams.  The  World's  Work,  January,  1901. 

"The  Geogranhical  Conquests  of  the  \iiu-- 
teeuth  Century."  By  Angelo  Heilprin.  The 
N.  Y  Evening  Post,  January  12,  1901. 

"Fields    for    Future    Explorers.''     H 
Henry  M.  Stanley.     Windsor  Magazine,  Jan- 
uary, 1901. 

"  Welche  Erdgebiete  sind  am  Schlns- 
19  Jahrhunderts  noch  unberkannt  ?  "     Von  H. 
Singer,  GloftHS,  2  Jnni,  1900. 


MEXICO   OF   TODAY 


judgment,  but  the  opinions  of  persons 
and  newspapers  who  have  nothing  to 
expect  or  fear  from  Mexico. 

Some  j'ears  ago  I  knew  by  sight  a 
tourist  who  went  to  Mexico  City  and 
staid  there  exactly  a  week,  not  know- 
ing, of  course,  a  single  word  of  Spanish, 
and  on  his  return  home  published  an 
article  on  Mexico,  relating  all  his  ro- 
mantic ad  ventures  in  the  country,  among 
which  was  an  attack  by  a  band  of  rob- 
bers on  a  stage  coach  where  that  remark- 
able man  was  traveling.  The  captain 
of  this  band  was  none  other  than  a  black- 
eyed  Senorita,  who  practiced  the  danger- 
ous and  romantic  vocation  of  highway 
robbery.  All  those  adventures  were 
very  entertaining,  and  their  onh'  fault 
was  not  to  have  any  existence  except 
in  the  fertile  imagination  of  their  in- 
ventor. 

Within  the  past  thirty  years  the  means 
of  transportation  have  wonderfully  in- 
creased. Instead  of  sailing  vessels  and  a 
steamer  every  three  weeks,  there  are  now 
two  regular  steamers  every  week  and 
many  ' '  tramp  ' '  steamers,  and  by  land 
we  have  four  railroad  lines  connecting 
the  two  countries. 

The  configuration  of  the  land  of  Mex- 
ico is  very  peculiar  ;  low  near  the  coasts, 
it  ascends  continually  and  very  rapidl}7 
to  the  interior,  until  an  altitude  from 
•6,000  to  10,000  feet  is  reached  above  the 
sea-level,  arriving  at  what  is  called  the 
''table  land." 

Our  capital,  Mexico  City,  has  an  ele- 
vation of  nearly  7,400  feet — that  is  to 
say,  it  is  from  800  to  900  feet  higher 
than  the  highest  peak  of  Mt.  Washing- 
ton, which  has  an  elevation  of  6,500  feet. 
Although  the  city  is  only  a  little  more 
than  19  degrees  north  of  the  Equator, 
it  never  experiences  a  tropical  summer. 
That  a  light  overcoat  is  needed  in  the 
evening  at  every  season  of  the  year  is 
seldom  appreciated  by  foreign  travelers, 
who,  under  the  notion  of  visiting  a  trop- 
ical country,  come  provided  only  with 
summer  clothing,  and  thus  often  con- 


tract diseases  consequent  upon  exposure 
to  the  cold  air. 

Not  a  single  navigable  river  traverses 
the  whole  country.  This  unfavorable 
natural  condition  has  necessitated  the 
building  of  many  railroads  at  an  enor- 
mous cost  over  the  mountainous  soil. 

Our  constitution  is  similar  to  that  of 
the  United  States  in  the  main  points. 
Mexico  is  a  federal  republic,  divided 
into  States  and  Territories  ;  the  former 
ruled  by  their  particular  constitutions, 
and  the  latter  directly  governed  by  the 
federal  authorities.  The  executive  is 
appointed  by  popular  election  every  four 
years,  but  as  the  constitution  prescribes 
no  limits  for  reelection,  we  all  have  had 
the  pleasure,  and,  in  our  opinion,  the 
good  sense,  of  reelecting  General  Diaz 
for  the  fifth  term,  ending  on  November 
30,  1904. 

Perhaps  some  persons  will  not  deem 
it  in  accordance  with  republican  ideas 
to  reelect  a  man  so  many  times,  but  we 
Mexican  citizens  answer  that  if  it  is  not 
in  accordance  with  certain  theoietical 
principles,  it  is  in  perfect  conformity 
with  that  sense  called  common  precisely 
because  it  is  so  rare. 

The  president  of  a  republic  is  the  attor- 
ney, elected  by  the  citizens  to  administer 
for  a  certain  period,  under  prescribed 
rules  established  by  the  constitution, 
their  foreign  and  interior  affairs.  If  we 
find  a  person  who  performs  the  duties 
imposed  upon  him  with  remarkable  abil- 
ity and  honesty,  as  we  Mexican  citizens 
believe  that  a  man  of  that  kind  cannot  be 
very  easily  found,  we  renew  our  power  of 
attorney  for  another  four  years,  leaving 
intact  the  most  severe  maxims  of  repub- 
licanism. 

This  custom  of  changing  as  little  as 
possible  those  public  officers  who  for  the 
performance  of  their  duties  require  a 
certain  amount  of  technical  instruction 
and  experience  is  very  old  in  Mexico. 
Even  in  the  times  when  political  parties 
waged  terrible  war  upon  each  other,  caus- 
ing frequent  changes  of  administration, 


154        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


many  officers  who  for  their  competency 
and  honesty  seemed  to  all  to  he  the  right 
men  in  the  right  places  were  left  undis- 
turbed. 

If  we  entertain  an  elevated  opinion  of 
General  Diaz  we  only  agree  with  what 
the  press  of  every  country,  from  Russia 
to  Spain  and  from  Cape  Horn  to  Wash- 
ington, declare  when  they  assert  that 
Mexico  is  one  of  the  most  prosperous 
and  best  governed  countries  in  the  world. 

Our  constitutional  laws  differ  from 
those  of  the  United  States  in  denying 
the  right  to  religious  corporations  of  any 
denomination  to  possess  or  administer  or 
to  hold  any  mortgage  upon  real  estate. 
In  consequence  the  property  of  such 
corporation  must  be  in  cash  or  in  shares 
of  railroad,  telegraph,  manufacturing, 
mining,  or  some  other  kind  of  enterprise 
which  keeps  their  money  in  constant 
circulation.  The  object  of  this  legisla- 
tion was  to  prevent  the  stagnation  of 
real  estate  constantly  produced  by  those 
corporations  having  two  characteristics — 
indefinite  duration  and  possession  in  com- 
mon— not  any  of  their  members  being 
able  to  dispose  of  any  part  of  the  prop- 
erty, as  is  the  case  in  mercantile  associa- 
tions. 

Another  point  worthy  of  mention  is 
the  disposition  of  our  fundamental  laws 
relative  to  marriage.  Our  legislators 
considered  marriage  as  the  corner-stone 
of  the  social  edifice,  and  consequently 
they  did  not  leave  it  to  the  legislatures 
of  the  States,  but  prescribed  precise  and 
ineludible  rules  as  to  its  nature  and  form 
of  contract. 

In  short,  they  considered  marriage  a 
civil  contract  constituted  by  the  indis- 
soluble union  of  a  single  man  to  a  single 
woman,  and  requiring  for  its  legal  va- 
lidity that  it  be  contracted  before  a  civil 
magistrate  appointed  for  the  purpose. 
Of  course,  the  laws  do  not  prevent  the 
contracting  parties  from  having  recourse 
to  the  ministers  of  their  religious  creed, 
and  this  is  the  reason  why  in  Mexico 
all  nuptial  ceremonies  are  double — one 


of  a  religious  and  the  other  of  a  civil 
character. 

Some  lawyers  say  "  that  it  is  not  con- 
venient to  hinder  or  make  mama, 
little  difficult  ;  "  but  others  answer  in 
reply,  "  that  it  is  better  to  oblige  men 
and  women  to  practice  the  known  pro- 
verb, 'Look  before  you  leap,'  or,  as 
we  say  in  Spanish,  '  Antes  que  te  cases \ 
)nira  lo  que  haces  '  (Before  you  get  mar- 
ried, think  of  what  you  are  doing)." 
Divorce  is  absolutely  rejected,  though 
legal  separation  is  allowed,  with  the 
formalities  prescribed  by  said  laws. 

The  public  administration  of  Mexico 
is  divided  into  seven  departments  :  For- 
eign Affairs  ;  the  Interior  ;  Justice  and 
Public  Education  ;    Improvements,   In- 
dustry,   Commerce    and   Colonizatio 
Communications    and    Public  Worl 
Finance  and   Public  Credit ;  and    \\\ 
and  Navy. 

The  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs 
maintains  amicable  relations  with  all  the 
countries  of  both  hemispheres.  Toda. 
Mexico  has  not  a  single  cause  of  dis- 
agreement with  any  power  or  people  in 
the  world. 

One  of  the  principal   objects  of  tht 
Department  of  the  Interior  is  to  culti- 
vate cordial  relations  between  the  Fed- 
eral and  State  authorities.     There  was 
a  time  when  almost  every  State  g«.  -'ern* 
conscientiously  believed  it  to  be  hi 
to  oppose  in  every  way  the  Federal 
ecutive,  and  even  some  of  them  m 
tained  a  large  military  force,  not  to  k 
peace  and  give  public  security,  but  . 
order  to  resist  by  force,  if  necessary,  tht 
orders  of  the  Federal  Executive.    Thos 
narrow-minded  and  anarchical  ideas  are 
things  of  the  past,  and  General  Diaz,  in 
his   last    report,    relates    with   patriotic 
pleasure   "that   not  a  single  State  has 
any  difficulty  or  displeasure  with  the 
Federal  authorities  or  with  any  of  its 
neighboring  States,  and  that   all  their 
governors  try  to  act  in  perfect  accord 
with  the  Federal  Executive  to  give  an 
impulse  to  the  continual  progress  of  the 


MEXICO   OF   TODAY 


whole  country."  In  other  words,  they 
are  sufficiently  enlightened  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  reasonable  liberty 
given  by  the  constitution  to  administer 
their  internal  affairs,  and  remember  that 
they  are  only  members  of  that  great 
body  called  the  Mexican  Republic,  the 
only  sovereign  in  the  true  and  correct 
sense  of  the  word. 

The  board  of  health  is  a  branch  of 
this  department,  and  the  Federal  Ex- 
ecutive and  all  the  States  devote  to  it 
special  attention.  In  the  City  of  Mex- 
ico a  general  hospital  will  be  completed 
very  soon,  where  22  isolated  pavilions 
have  already  been  finished  and  where 
more  than  600  patients  can  be  commodi- 
ously,  hygienically,  and  scientifically 
cared  for. 

The  States  have  followed  this  ex- 
ample, and  many  of  them  have  finished 
or  have  in  actual  construction  similar 
institutions  based  upon  the  same  scien- 
tific principles. 

The  efficacy  of  the  measures  taken  by 
the  board  of  health  in  regard  to  vacci- 
nation and  the  prevention  of  smallpox 
has  received  the  amplest  confirmation 
from  experience.  In  1898  an  epidemic 
of  smallpox  broke  out  in  different  parts 
of  the  country  and  in  the  City  of  Mex- 
ico. The  total  number  of  deaths  was  only 
78,  the  great  majority  being  foreigners, 
who  had  not  taken  the  precaution  of 
being  revaccinated. 

We  have  another  institution  in  excel- 
lent condition  in  the  Federal  district ; 
that  is  the  police.  The  whole  force  is 
divided  in  two  large  sections — the  city  or 
urban  and  the  country  or  rural  police. 

The  greater  part  of  the  first  consist 
of  footmen,  with  a  small  squadron  of 
mounted  police,  while  the  second  or 
rural  police  is  exclusively  composed  of 
mounted  men. 

The  distribution  of  the  city  police  is, 
in  the  opinion  of  many  natives  and  for- 
eigners, perfectly  organized  for  public 
protection.  There  is  always  a  police- 
man stationed  at  the  crossing  of  every 


street  and  avenue,  and  misdemeanors 
and  crimes  can  often  be  prevented  and 
the  criminals  almost  always  caught.  In 
general,  the  policemen  are  courteous 
and  ready,  not  only  to  help  when  called, 
but  to  give  any  information  about  streets 
and  public  buildings — in  a  word,  to  be 
useful  to  everybody.  The  services  ren- 
dered are  entirely  gratuitous,  and  many 
persons,  especially  foreigners,  who  with 
the  best  intention  have  tried  to  give 
them  a  voluntary  reward  for  the  recov- 
ery of  lost  goods,  can  testify  that  the 
reward  has  never  been  accept-  .1  in  any 
form.  General  Diaz  in  his  la  >t  report 
makes  the  important  observrtion  that 
well-made  statistical  tables  prove  that 
it  is  not  criminality  that  has  increased, 
but  rather  the  efficiency  of  the  police. 

The  rural  police,  who  guard  the  roads 
of  the  country  in  general,  are  formed 
exclusively  by  mounted  men  picked 
from  the  best  riders  of  the  Republic  and 
are  mounted  on  splendid  horses.  This 
force,  by  reason  of  their  efficiency  and 
beautiful  appearance,  always  attract  the 
attention  of  the  spectators. 

Places  for  the  correction  and  punish- 
ment of  criminals,  or  penitentiaries,  are 
being  built  throughout  the  Republic  ac- 
cording to  the  systems  proven  best  by 
experience,  and  are  all  founded  upon 
the  philosophical  and  truly  Christian 
idea  that  society,  when  it  takes  hold  of 
a  criminal,  does  not  intend  to  wreak 
vengeance  on  him,  but  to  prevent  him 
from  repeating  his  offensive  acts  and  to 
reform  and  convert  him  by  every  possi- 
ble means  into  a  good  and  honest  citizen, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  to  deter  others 
from  following  his  example. 

Let  us  now  glance  briefly  over  two  of 
the  most  important  foundations  of  any 
society,  and,  more  especially,  of  a  Re- 
public— the  department  of  justice  and 
public  education. 

The  Federal  and  State  authorities  are 
continually  trying  to  perfect  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  and  to  elect  able  and 
honest  citizens  to  the  judgeships.  Our 


156         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


constitution,  like  yours,  decrees  that 
the  judicial  authorities  must  be  elected 
by  popular  vote,  and  these  elections  are 
held  in  the  most  tranquil  way.  My  own 
personal  opinion  is  against  this  manner 
of  appointing  judges  and  magistrates, 
as  I  do  not  think  popularity  is  always 
the  best  qualification  for  the  sacred  du- 
ties of  a  judge. 

The  importance  of  public  education 
is  fully  appreciated  by  the  Federal  and 
State  authorities,  and  there  is  a  com- 
plete system  derived  from  the  study  by 
competent  persons  of  the  methods  fol- 
lowed in  foreign  countries.  The  Fed- 
eral government  has  not  only  adopted 
the  systems  considered  the  best,  but 
has  appointed  boards  of  education  to 
give  to  public  education  an  impetus  in 
the  right  direction  and  to  make  it  uni- 
form in  the  Republic. 

In  1898  the  number  of  schools  in  the 
Republic  was  12,358,  and  of  this  num- 
ber 6,738  were  supported  by  Federal 
and  State  authorities,  2,953  by  munici- 
palities, and  2,667  by  private  parties. 
The  average  monthly  attendance  of 
pupils  was  556,009.  The  expense  of 
the  established  schools  supported  by  the 
authorities  amounted  to  $5,980,180.72, 
not  including  the  schools  kept  by  pri- 
vate parties,  of  which  I  have  no  infor- 
mation. If  we  take  as  a  point  of  com- 
parison the  cost  of  the  schools  paid  by 
the  authorities,  we  can  calculate  very 
approximately  that  $7,000,000  were  ex- 
pended for  public  education  in  Mexico 
in  that  year.  The  number  of  schools 
for  girls  was  3,296;  for  boys,  6,813, 
and  mixed,  2,249.  This  total  has  cer- 
tainly increased  since  then. 

The  attendance  of  pupils  increases 
very  rapidly  year  after  year,  and  I  was 
agreeably  surprised,  when  visiting  my 
country  after  an  absence  of  many  years, 
to  observe  the  wonderful  results  attained 
by  our  educational  system.  There  is 
yet  much  to  be  clone,  but  what  has  been 
already  accomplished  is  truly  surpris- 
ing, and  the  board  of  education  is  con- 


tinually improving  and  multiplying  the 
means  of  instruction. 

To  make  good  teachers  and  to  im- 
press unity  of  method  there  are  normal 
schools  for  men  and  women.  In  the 
normal  school  for  women  in  the  City  of 
Mexico  there  are  actually  more  than 
i, 600  girls  who  want  to  adopt  the  noble 
profession  of  teachers.  Another  excel- 
lent normal  school  exists  in  the  State  of 
Vera  Cruz,  and  there  are  others  in  other 
States,  but  I  have  no  data  at  hand  con- 
cerning them. 

For  professional  instruction  there  are, 
principally  in  the  Federal  districts, 
schools  of  jurisprudence,  engineering 
in  all  its  branches,  commerce,  agricul- 
ture, arts  and  trades,  fine  arts,  one 
conservatory  of  music,  and  for  all  avo- 
cations required  by  the  actual  state  of 
sciences  and  arts,  and  the  government 
is  continually  giving  to  each  one  of 
them  all  means  conducive  to  perfect  in- 
struction, beginning  with  a  comfortable 
and  hygienic  building.  The  one,  for 
instance,  in  use  by  the  school  of  arts 
and  trades  for  women  has  been  extended 
because  the  actual  attendance  is  more 
than  1,000. 

The  number  of  public  libraries  in  1898 
was  1 30.  The  national  library  of  the  cap- 
ital last  year  added  to  its  catalogue  nearly 
10,000  volumes  by  purchase  and  9,500 
volumes  by  the  donation  of  Mrs.  Ysabel 
Pesado  de  Mier,  widow  of  our  late  and 
lamented  minister  to  the  French  Repub- 
lic, Mr.  Antonio  de  Mier  y  Celis,  my 
dear  friend,  and  one  of  the  best  and 
most  patriotic  citizens  Mexico  has  ever 
produced. 

The  number  of  museums  in  the  Repub- 
lic is  about  30.  The  National  Museum 
of  the  capital,  the  richest  of  all,  received 
last  year  valuable  additions  in  the  ac- 
quisition of  a  Collection  of  archaeological 
pieces  from  the  State  of  Michoacan,  a 
collection  of  antique  objects  from  the 
Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  and  fac-similes 
of  the  codices  existing  in  the  European 
libraries  relative  to  our  history,  donated 


MEXICO   OF    TODAY 


by  the  Bishop  of  Tehuantepec  and  the 
Due  de  Loubat. 

The  newspapers  published  during  that 
year  numbered  533,  and  of  that  total  153 
were  published  in  the  City  of  Mexico, 
among  them  being  daily,  weekly, 
monthly,^  and  quarterly  journals.  Very 
few,  fortunately,  were  exclusively  given 
to  politics,  the  rest  to  the  exposition  and 
discussion  of  science,  industry,  com- 
merce, agriculture,  jurisprudence,  medi- 
cine, political  economy,  mining  and 
civil  engineering,  military  art,  etc. 

These  few  facts,  rapidly  enumerated, 
will  give  some  idea  of  the  real  state  of 
the  public  education  in  Mexico. 

Passing  to  our  Department  of  Im- 
provements, Commerce,  and  Industry, 
etc.,  our  mining  industry  is  the  most 
important  in  every  respect  and  deserves 
to  be  mentioned  first.  The  number  of 
mineral  properties  at  the  end  of  last 
year  was  12,304,  covering  an  area  of 
128,380  hectares,  the  equivalent  of 
nearly  320,000  acres,  besides  six  exten- 
sive zones  in  the  States  of  Sonora, 
Chihuahua,  and  Michoacan  and  in  the 
territory  of  Lower  California,  which 
were  rented  to  parties  under  contracts 
made  by  the  Executive  and  approved 
by  the  Federal  Congress  for  the  work- 
ing of  all  mines  that  may  be  discovered 
in  these  tracts  of  land. 

The  yield  of  our  silver  mines  in  the 
four  years  from  1892  to  1896  was  $225,- 
247,459.  or  a  yearly  average  of  $56,- 
311,864.  During  the  four  years  1896- 
1900  the  production  was  $274,370,157, 
a  yearly  average  of  $68,592,540.  Our 
production  of  gold  is  also  increasing. 
From  1892-1896  it  was  $14,123,876, 
and  from  1896-1900,  $31,108,425 — that 
is,  the  output  more  than  doubled  dur- 
ing the  last  four  years. 

In  the  production  of  silver  from  1899 
to  1900  there  was  a  decline  of  more  than 
two  millions  of  dollars,  but  General 
Diaz  explains  the  cause  very  satisfacto- 
rily by  recalling  the  instability  of  pro- 


duction, which  is  subject  to  many  acci- 
dents and  unforeseen  circumstances  that 
diminish  or  stop  suddenly  the  output  of 
a  silver  mine.  Our  mining  enterprises 
are  not  now  confined  to  silver  and  gold, 
but  in  the  mining  of  many  other  metals, 
such  as  copper,  antimony,  lead,  and 
mercury,  large  capital  is  employed. 

Our  exports  of  copper  in  the  last 
financial  year  amounted  to  nearly  ten 
millions  of  dollars.  Some  of  our  mineral- 
melting  establishments  have  disposed 
of  the  following  quantities  : 

Campania  Metalurgica  Mexicana  de 
San  L,uis  Potosf,  from  December,  1896, 
to  September  30,  1900,  332,358  tons. 

Gran  Fundicion  Central  de  Aguas- 
calientes,.  from  December,  1896,  to  Oc- 
tober, 1900,  625,855  tons. 

Compama  del  ' '  Boleo  ' '  baja  Cali- 
fornia, in  the  years  from  1896  to  the  end 
of  1899,  40,422  tons. 

A  department  of  vital  importance  to 
us  is  that  of  colonization.  Formerly 
the  government  made  some  efforts  in 
this  direction,  and  we  now  have  29  col- 
onies in  steady  progress,  13  established 
directly  by  the  government  and  16  by 
private  companies.  Experience  has 
taught  us,  however,  that  it  is  better  to 
leave  this  matter  to  private  enterprises, 
and  the  only  positive  aid  given  by  the 
government  is  the  tranquillity,  security, 
and  incessant  and  rapid  progress  of  the 
whole  Republic.  When  these  advan- 
tageous conditions  become  universally 
known  the  current  of  immigration  will 
flow  into  Mexico,  where  nobody  can 
starve,  where  the  poorest,  with  some 
exertion,  can  arrive  at  a  comfortable 
situation — the  middle  class  become  rich 
and  the  rich  can  increase  their  capital 
by  millions  ;  and  all  this  with  a  beauti- 
ful climate,  salubrious  everywhere,  ex- 
cept on  the  coasts,  and  among  a  peace- 
ful, industrious  people,  who  have  well 
earned  the  reputation  of  being  one  of 
the  most  courteous  and  hospitable  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth. 


(  To  be  continued  in  the  May  number} 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


OFFICIAL     INFORMATION     RE- 
LATING TO  THE  PHILIPPINES 

TUB  State  Department  has  recently 
published  three  handsome  vol- 
umes on  the  Philippine  Islands.  The 
first  two  volumes  are  a  history  of  Spanish 
work  in  the  archipelago,  with  a  cyclopedic 
statement  of  the  resources  of  the  islands. 
The  different  peoples,  their  means  of 
livelihood,  their  customs,  and  character 
are  sympathetically  portrayed  by  the 
editors,  Rev.  Jose  Algue  and  the  Jesuit 
Fathers  of  Manila.  The  third  volume 
is  an  atlas  of  about  60  colored  maps. 
This  atlas  is  the  most  comprehensive 
statement  of  what  is  known  of  the  geog- 
raphy of  the  islands  ever  published. 
The  collection  of  the  material  has  been 
the  work  of  generations  of  the  Jesuits, 
but  under  the  Spanish  regime  want  of 
money  had  prevented  the  publication 
of  the  mass  of  facts  obtained.  The 
map-makers  of  the  U.  S.  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey  have  systematized  the 
material  which  the  Jesuits  supplied. 
Volumes  I  and  II  are  in  Spanish  and 
illustrated  with  very  good  pictures. 
The  set  of  three  volumes  may  be  ob- 
tained from  the  State  Department  by 
the  payment  of  $20. 

The  Reports  of  the  Taft  Philippine 
Commission,  which  form  a  volume  of 
600  pages,  may  now  be  obtained  from 
the  State  Department  gratis. 

The  War  Department  has  recently 
issued  a  large  map  of  Luzon  on  the 
scale  of  10  miles  to  the  inch.  It  em- 
bodies all  the  latest  information  received 
by  the  department  from  its  officers  and 
agents  in  the  islands.  The  department 
has  also  printed  a  third  and  revised 
edition  of  the  large  map  of  the  archi- 
pelago based  on  the  map  of  Montero  Y. 
Gay,  first  published  in  Madrid. 

The  latest  edition  of  the  ' '  Progress 
Map  of  Signal  Corps  Telegraph  Lines 


and  Cables  "  in  the  Philippines  shows 
all  lines  laid  by  the  corps  up  to  Feb- 
ruary i,  1901.  The  lower  hair  of  Luzon 
is  now  covered  with  a  network  of  wire, 
while  two  trunk  lines  penetrate  to  the 
extreme  north  end  of  the  island.  The 
islands  of  Panay,  Cebu,  Negros,  Leyte, 
and  Bohol  each  have  several  hundreds 
of  miles  of  wire,  constructed  by  the 
corps,  and  are  connected  by  military 
cables.  There  are  now  in  operation  in 
the  islands  9,000  miles  of  wire  and  400 
miles  of  cable. 

These  maps  may  be  obtained  by  re- 
sponsible persons  gratis. 


THE  CENSUS  OF  INDIA 

THE  census  of  India,  taken  March  i, 
1901,  gives  the  population  of  that 
vast  country  as  294,266,000,  an  actual 
increase  of  only  1.49  per  cent  during 
ten  years,  while  during  the  preceding 
decade  the  increase  was  11.2  per  cent. 

The  population  in  1891  was  287,- 
717,000,  but  as  certain  tracts  are  in- 
cluded in  the  census  of  1901  that  were 
not  enumerated  in  1891 ,  the  net  increase 
is  only  4,283,069.  In  numbers  India 
has  thus  added  to  her  population  less 
than  one-third  of  what  the  United  States 
have  gained,  though  the  former  has 
four  times  the  population  of  the  latter — 
an  increase  of  four  millions  as  against 
thirteen  millions  for  the  United  States. 

The  reasons  of  this  small  increase  in 
the  figures  are  two:  first,  the  terrible 
ravages  of  the  plague  for  four  consecu- 
tive years  in  the  Bombay  Presidency 
and  the  two  great  famines  of  1896-' 97 
and  1899—1900,  and,  second,  the  greater 
accuracy  with  which  the  work  of  the 
census  has  been  performed. 

The  population  of  British  India  has 
increased  considerably,  while  in  the 
Native  States  it  has  fallen  off.  British 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


India  now  numbers  2 3 1,085,000  against 
221,266,000  in  1891,  and  the  Native 
States,  63,181,000  against  66,050,000 
in  1891.  It  is  yet  too  early  to  analyze 
the  returns  for  the  Native  States,  but 
there  would  appear  to  be  an  excessive 
decline  in  the  birth  rate. 

The  following  table  gives  the  popula- 
tion in  thousands,  the  third  column 
showing  the  percentage  of  increase  or 
decrease : 


British  Territory. 

i 

1901. 

1891. 

Percent- 
age. 

. 
A  j  mere  \ 

476 

6,122 
74,713 

i,49J 
15,330 

3,212 
41 

3,749 
5,37i 
9,845 
170 
38,208 
34,8i2 
12,884 

22,449 
810 

24 

542    —  12.17 

5,433  i  +  12.67 
71,346    +    4.72 
2,897  :     -    4.99 

J5,957    •  -    3'93 
2,871     +  11.88 
44    -  -    6.48 
3,362    +  14.49 
4,408    -f   21.84 
10,784  j  -  -    871 
173    +    4.28 
35,630    +    7-24 
34,253     +     1-63 
12,650    +    2.40 
20,766    -f    7.58 
*               * 

15     +  56.95 

Marwar  \ 

Assam  ' 

Bengal  . 

Berar  

Bombay  

Sind  

Adeu  

Upper  Burma  

Lower  Burma  

Central  provinces.  .  . 
Coorg  

Madras  

Northwest  provinces. 
Oudh     

Punjab  

Baluchistan  

Andamans  . 

Total.    . 

231,085 

221,266 

+    444 

Native  States. 
Haidarabad  

n,i74 
i,956 

5,538 
2,906 
9,841 
8,501 
6,891 
4,190 
1,983 
3,735 
799 
4,438 
1,228 

n,537 
2,415 
4,943 
2,543 
12,016 
10,318 
8,059 
3,7oo 
2,160 
3,296 
792 
4,263 
* 

-    3H 
-  19-23 

-T    12. 
+    14.24 

-18.1 
—  17-5 
-  14-49 
+  13-23 
-    8.19 

+  13-33 
+      .91 
-f    4-12 
* 

Baroda  

Mysore  

Kashmir  

Rajputana  
Central  India  

Bombay  

Madras  

Central  provinces.  .  . 
Bengal  

Northwest  provinces. 
Punjab.  ....    

Burma  

Total  Native  States. 
Total  all  India  

63,181 

66,050 
287,317 

4-34 

294,266 

+    2.42 

*  No  comparison  possible. 


GEN.  FOSTER  ON  MEXICO 

HON.  JOHN  W.  FOSTER  has  been 
contributing  to  the  New  York 
Tribune  a  series  of  very  pointed  papers 
on  the  condition  of  Mexico  of  today. 
General  Foster  began  his  distinguished 
diplomatic  career  in  1873  as  the  United 
States  Minister  to  Mexico,  where  lie 
represented  his  nation  for  seven  years. 
Until  this  winter  he  had  not  revisited 
the  country  in  the  twenty  years  since  his 
recall.  In  the  meantime  he  has  been 
the  United  States  minister  to  the  courts 
of  Russia  and  Spain,  and  held  the  high- 
est diplomatic  office  in  the  United  States, 
that  of  Secretary  of  State. 

Instead  of  geographic  isolation,  Mex- 
ico is  now  bound  to  the  United  States  by 
the  iron  ties  of  four  railroads,  while  many 
steamship  lines  ply  between  Vera  Cruz 
and  foreign  ports.  Security  of  life  and 
property  is  now  assured.  The  evidences 
of  progress  and  prosperity  are  seen  on 
ever}-  hand.  Mexico,  the  capital  city, 
has  doubled  in  numbers,  and  in  its  con- 
veniences and  wealth-bringing  attrac- 
tions may  vie  with  the  great  cities  of  the 
continent. 

In  its  foreign  relations  Mexico  has 
risen  to  a  position  of  dignity  and  gained 
the  respect  of  all  nations.  "A  marked 
feature  of  the  recent  diplomatic  rela- 
tions of  Mexico  has  been  the  extension 
of  these  relations  to  the  Far  East.  Sev- 
eral years  ago  a  treaty  of  amity  and 
commerce  was  effected  with  Japan,  and 
missions  are  now  maintained  at  the  two 
capitals  of  both  governments.  Last  year 
a  similar  treaty  of  a  very  liberal  charac- 
ter was  signed  at  Washington  by  the 
Mexican  Ambassador  and  the  Chinese 
Minister.  By  it  Chinese  laborers  are 
admitted  into  the  country,  and  they  are 
already  coming,  especially  to  the  Pacific 
Coast,  in  considerable  numbers,  and  by 
their  industrious  and  persistent  habits 
are  making  themselves  felt  as  an  impor- 
tant element  of  the  country." 

To  the  able  management  of  affairs  by 


160        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


President  Diaz  Mr.  Foster  attributed 
the  prosperity  of  the  country.  The 
result  of  the  President's  good  judgment 
is  especially  evident  in  the  present 
confidence  in  the  financial  condition  of 
the  country,  both  official  and  private. 
"  The  revenues  which  before  (the  elec- 
tion of  General  Diaz)  had  been  barely 
$20,000,000  annually,  soon  doubled, 
then  trebled,  and  within  ten  years  had 
increased  more  than  sixfold,  reaching  as 
high  as  $ 1 20,000,000. ' ' 

This  increase  made  possible  the  aban- 
donment of  the  old  system  of  taxation 
of  goods  passing  from  state  to  state  and 
of  taxes  collected  at  the  city  gates  on 
all  articles  of  consumption  entering  the 
city.  By  this  reduction  in  the  branches 
of  taxation  the  national  revenues  have 
diminished  to  $60,000,000,  which  is  suf- 
ficient for  all  the  current  needs  of  the 
government,  and  yields  a  surplus  to  be 
expended  for  special  purposes. 

The  entire  indebtedness  of  the  Repub- 
lic amounts  to  about $177, 178,000,  borne 
by  about  13,570,000  souls.  Mexico's 
debt  per  capita  is  thus  only  $13,  while 
that  of  Canada  is  $71. 


EXPLORATION    DURING   VIC- 
TORIA'S REIGN 

A  PERUSAL  of  Gen.  A.  W.  Greely's 
J~\  able  article  shows  that  nearly  all 
the  enormous  advances  in  geographic 
knowledge  during  the  past  100  years 
were  made  during  Queen  Victoria's 
reign.  In  1837  Livingstone  was  at- 
tending medical  and  Greek  classes  in 
Glasgow,  and  Stanley  had  not  been 
born.  Victoria  had  reigned  16  years 
before  McClure,  in  1853,  attained  the 
Northwest  Passage,  and  43  years  be- 
fore Nordenskjold,  in  1880,  solved  the 
problem  of  the  Northeast  Passage.  Sir 
James  Ross,  Wilkes,  Weddell,  and 
D'Urville  all  won  their  Antarctic  laurels 
within  her  reign.  Australia  was  not 
crossed  from  north  to  south  by  Stuart  till 


T862,  25  years  after  her  accession,  and 
from  east  to  west  by  Colonel  Warburton 
till  1873,  36  years  after  her 'accession. 
Hue,  the  explorer  of  Tibet  ;  Pumpdly 
and  Richthofen,  pioneers  in  China,  and 
Nevelskoy,  who  ascended  the  Amur  f row 
the  sea,  gained  their  fame  within  Vic- 
toria's reign.  Fremont,  Powell,  Dall— 
names  illustrious  in  the  exploration  of 
the  American  continent — also  did  their 
work  since  1837. 

From  her  accession  Victoria  was 
Patron  of  the  Royal  Geographical  So- 
ciety, and  to  her  encouragement  are  due 
many  of  the  great  enterprises  planned 
and  successfully  carried  out  by  the  So- 
ciety. She  was  ready  also  to  reward  the 
work  of  British  explorers.  James  K 
Leopold  McClintock,  John  Franklin, 
Samuel  Baker,  Robert  Schombur»k, 
Henry  M.  Stanley,  and  others,  she 
knighted  in  recognition  of  their  achieve- 
ments. The  Founder's  Medal  and  the 
Patron's  Medal,  awarded  annually  by 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  were 
granted  by  her. 


PHENOMENAL   INCREASE     ]N 
POPULATION  OF  ITALY 

THE  population  of  Italy  has  prac- 
tically doubled  in  the  last  twenty - 
years,  a  rate  of  increase  that  surpasses 
that  of  all  nations  of  Europe  and  even 
the  United  States.  This,  too,  not- 
withstanding the  burdens  of  excessive 
taxation,  that  would  tend  to  diminish 
the  birth  rate.  The  last  census  was 
taken  twenty  years  ago,  in  1881,  and 
showed  a  population  of  21,000,000. 
According  to  the  census  taken  early 
this  year  the  population  now  numbers 
35,000,000.  It  is  safe  to  estimate  the 
number  of  emigrants  during  the  twenty 
years  as  at  least  5,000,000,  so  that 
the  increase  by  birth  has  been  about 
20,000,000.  It  has  taken  the  United' 
States  thirty  years,  aided  by  12,000,000 
immigrants,  to  double  its  numbers. 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


161 


U.  S.  COAST  AND  GEODETIC 
SURVEY 

FIFTEEN  young  Filipinos  will 
soon  be  selected  by  civil  service 
examinations  in  Manila  as  aids  in  the 
U.  S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey.  They 
will  probably  be  brought  to  the  United 
States  for  a  preliminary  training  at  the 
head  office  in  Washington  before  being 
assigned  to  active  work  in  charting  the 
rivers  and  harbors  of  .the  islands.  They 
will  be  paid  $720  a  year,  a  very  generous 
salary  in  the  Philippines,  and  clever 
young  Filipinos  will  undoubtedly  be  se- 
cured. The  experiment,  initiated  by 
Dr.  O.  H.  Tittmann,  superintendent  of 
the  Survey,  is  of  great  importance,  as  it 
is  the  first  step  to  interest,  train,  and 
identify  the  young  Filipino  in  the  scien- 
tific development  of  his  country. 

The  coast  of  southeastern  Alaska  has 
been  well  charted  by  parties  of  the  Survey 
during  the  past  several  years,  but  the 
approaches  to  this  section  have  remained 
unmapped.  This  summer  the  Path- 
finder and  Me  Arthur,  in  charge  respect- 
ively of  J.  J.  Gilbert  and  F.  Westdale, 
will  carry  survey  parties  to  these  chan 
nels  and  soundings  will  be  taken  to  ac- 
curately determine  them .  A  large  party 
will  work  in  Prince  William  Sound, 
while  several  vessels  will  carry  other 
men  westward  to  tackle  the  difficult 
problem  of  charting  the  many  channels 
between  the  Fox  Islandsofthe  Aleutian 
archipelago. 


GLACIAL  ACTION  IN  AUS- 
TRALIA 

THE  evidences  of  glacial  action  in 
Australia  during  Permo-Carbon- 
iferous  times  are  discussed  by  Pro- 
fessor Penck  in  the  Zfitschrift  of  the 
Berlin  Gessellschaft  fiir  Erdkunde,  and 
compared  with  traces  of  simultaneous 
action  in  India  and  South  Africa.  The 
hypothesis  of  a  shifting  of  the  South 


Pole  to  a  central  point  on  the  tropic  of 
Capricorn,  in  longitude  86°  E.,  does 
not  satisfactorily  account  for  the  geolog- 
ical facts  and  the  existence  of  glacial 
conditions  over  such  an  enormous  area. 
Professor  Penck  is  quoted  in  Nature  as 
saying  that  the  appearances  ascribed  to 
ice  action  present  in  each  case  certain 
features  not  characteristic  of  ordinary 
glacial  deposits;  the  deposits  are  strati- 
fied and  the  pebbles  are  faceted  in  the 
manner  first  described  by  Wynne.  He 
further  observes  that  the  Gondwana 
beds,  always  closely  associated  with 
these  boulder  deposits,  have  lately  been 
found  in  the  Argentine  Republic,  and 
he  compares  the  bedding  and  faceting 
with  conditions  induced  by  pressure 
observed  in  the  Nagelfluh  and  in  cer- 
tain localities  near'  Vienna.  While 
many  of  the  observed  facts  appear  to 
indicate  glacial  action,  still  he  thinks 
that  these  special  points  demand  in- 
vestigation. 


THE  NORTHWEST  BOUNDARY 

IT  is  well  known  that  the  boundary 
between  the  British  possessions  in 
North  America  and  the  United  States, 
from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  westward 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  was  long  a  matter 
of  dispute.  Every  one  knows,  too,  that 
after  the  controversy  had  given  rise  to 
threats  of  war  the  49th  parallel  was 
agreed  upon  by  both  governments  as  the 
dividing  line.  So,  as  represented  upon 
the  map,  the  whole  question  seems  set- 
tled. Nevertheless  there  are  many  per- 
sons along  this  line  to  whom  nothing 
indicates  whether  they  are  living  in  the 
territory  of  the  King  or  of  the  Union. 
During  187 2-' 76  a  joint  commission 
erected  388  boundary  monuments  along 
the  line  about  two  miles  apart,  but  they 
hardly  proceeded  farther  west  than  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  left  the  410  miles 
between  the  mountains  and  the  Strait  of 
Georgia  almost  unmarked.  To  survey 


1 62          THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


and  mark  out  this  far  northwest  1>ound- 
ary  an  expedition  is  now  being  organ- 
ized by  the  Geological  Survey,  at  the 
direction  of  the  State  Department.  It 
is  probable  that  the  Canadian  authori- 
ties will  cooperate  with  the  Americans 
in  definitely  indicating  the  exact  bound- 
ary. Much  of  this  region  is  still  with- 
out roads  and  trails.  The  work  will 
be  difficult,  as  it  must  be  prosecuted  in 
part  through  the  wildest  region  of  the 
Rockies  and  Cascades,  where  impassable 
streams  and  lofty  cliffs  make  direct  ad- 
vance impossible.  The  necessary  sur- 
veys will  require  three  or  four  years. 

After  the  work  is  completed  it  must 
be  approved  by  a  treaty  between  the 
British  and  American  governments,  de- 
scribing in  detail  the  location  of  this 
part  of  the  northwest  boundary  and  the 
monuments  by  which  it  is  indicated. 

Mr.  E.  C.  Barnard,  the  well-known 
topographer  of  the  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey,  will  run  the  line,  in  cooperation 
with  Mr.  C.  H.  Sinclair,  of  the  Coast 
and  Geodetic  Survey.  Messrs.  Bailey 
Willis,  F.  L.  Ransom,  andG.  O.  Smith 
accompany  the  party  as  geologists  to 
study  the  geology  of  the  country  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  dividing  line. 


SUSPENSION  RAILROAD  IN 
GERMANY 

A  SUSPENSION  railroad  of  novel 
construction  has  recently  been 
opened  at  Elberfeld,  in  Germany.  It 
is  about  eight  miles  in  length  and  runs 
through  the  towns  of  Barmen  and  El- 
berfeld, following  the  course  of  the  river 
Wupper.  The  up-and-down  lines  have 
only  a  single  rail  apiece,  supported  by 
an  iron  framework  of  a  kind  hitherto 
unknown  in  railroad  engineering.  Each 
car  hangs  from  two  supports  25  feet 
apart,  fitted  with  double  wheels,  which 
run  upon  the  overhead  rail.  These  sup- 
ports are  so  shaped  that  it  is  believed 
to  be  impossible  for  them  to  leave  the 


line,  even    though  an  axle  or  a  wheel 
should  break. 

The  motive  power  is  electricity,  sup- 
plied by  a  wire  attached  to  the  rail. 
Each  pair  of  wheels  is  operated  by  an 
electric  motor  controlled  by  a  motornian 
in  the  front  car.  The  railroad  is  the  in- 
vention of  the  late  Herr  Eugene  Langer, 
of  Cologne,  who  died  in  1895.  The 
chief  advantage  claimed  is  cheapness  of 
construction,  for  the  line  can  be  built 
over  public  roads  and  rivers,  where  no 
ground  need  be  purchased. 


CAPE  TO    CAIRO    TELEGRAPH 

WORK  is  progressing  on  the  tele- 
graph line  from  Cairo  to  the 
Cape,  although  little  has  been  heard 
about  it  of  late,  owing  to  the  war  in 
South  Africa  and  the  great  distance 
from  civilization  the  engineers  have 
penetrated.  The  line  of  poles  and  wire 
now  stretches  3,000  miles  up  from  the 
Cape  to  a  point  50  miles  north  of  the 
town  of  Kasanga,  on  the  shore  of  Tan- 
ganyika, in  German  East  Africa.  Only 
1,200  miles  remain  between  Kasanga 
and  the  southern  end  of  the  Egyptian 
telegraph  line.  This  last  link  will  be 
traversed  more  easily,  as  the  apparatus 
and  supplies  can  be  brought  by  water 
instead  of  by  native  porters.  Porters 
have  to  be  continually  engaged,  as  the 
men  refuse  to  go  more  than  a  few  hun- 
dred miles  from  their  homes.  Horses, 
mules,  and  cattle  cannot  be  employed, 
as  they  cannot  survive  the  bite  of  the 
tsetse  fly. 

The  country  just  traversed  between 
Lake  Tanganyika  and  Salisbury  is  the 
hardest  bit  of  ground  to  be  met  with, 
for  it  is  mountainous,  heavily  wooded, 
and  malarious.  Mr.  E.  S.  Grogan,  the 
explorer,  reports  having  seen  engineers 
supervising  the  work  from  litters  while 
racked  with  fever  and  the  thermometer 
standing  at  104°. 

The  rinderpest  and  the  war  with  the 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


163 


Matabeles  which  followed  also  delayed 
the  work.  The  Matabeles  misunder- 
stood the  white  man's  motive  in  killing 
their  apparently  well  cattle,  but  which 
were  really  infected  with  the  disease, 
and  in  revenge  tore  down  miles  of  tele- 
graph poles  and  melted  his  wire  into 
bullets,  which  they  fired  back  'at  him. 
In  this  war  $200,000  worth  of  the  com- 
pany's supplies  were  destroyed. 

They  have  had  less  trouble  than  was 
expected  from  wild  animals;  sometimes, 
to  be  sure,  elephants  have  knocked  down 
the  poles,  and  once  a  lion  helped  himself 
to  several  natives  before  he  was  killed. 


GERMAN  SUBMARINE  CABLE 
SYSTEM 

AVAST  system  of  submarine  cables 
is  being  projected  by  Germany. 
In  October,  1900,  a  line  was  opened 
connecting  Kiaochau  with  Chifu,  and 
the  southern  end  is  now  being  rapidly 
extended  to  Shanghai  and  Canton. 
Later  a  branch  cable  will  be  laid  from 
Kiaochau  to  Nagasaki  to  connect  with 
the  American  Pacific  cable,  which  is  des- 
tined to  be  soon  constructed,  while  the 
main  cable  will  be  continued  to  Manila, 
Sumatra,  Borneo,  New  Guinea,  and  the 
Caroline  Islands.  From  the  Azores  a 
line  will  be  laid  southward  to  the  Cape 
Verde  Islands,  thence  down  the  Atlantic 
to  the  South  American  continent  to 
Bahia,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  Montevideo. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  a 
German  cable  will  unite  Morocco, 
Guinea,  the  Kameruns,  and  German 
Southwest  Africa.  When  the  construc- 
tion of  the  system  has  been  completed, 
the  German  Emperor  will  be  able  to 
communicate  with  his  possessions  in 
every  quarter  of  the  world  independent 
of  English  lines.  His  messages  will 
cross  the  Pacific  and  American  conti- 
nent on  American  cables  and  the  At- 
lantic on  the  German  New  York-Azores- 
Emden  line,  completed  last  year. 


GREAT    BRITAIN    IN    THE 
YANGTZE  VALLEY 

NOTHING  is  more  noticeable  than 
the  decay  of  British  influence  in 
southern  China  during  the  last  five  years. 
It  is  not  merely  that  British  influence 
has  declined,  but  that  the  influence  of 
other  powers  has  largely  developed  in 
a  region  supposed  to  be  distinctively  the 
British  sphere.  Says  the  Shanghai  cor- 
respondent of  the  Times  in  a  recent  let- 
ter :  ' '  The  Yangtze  is  steadily  growing 
less  and  less  English  and  more  and  more 
international."  He  fortifies  this  state- 
ment by  discouraging  facts  observed  in 
Shanghai  and  Hankau,  "  the  key  of  the 
Upper  Yangtze. ' '  He  says  :  ' '  The  one 
advantage  we  still  possess  over  the  other 
powers  in  the  Yangtze  Valley  is  the  con- 
fidence and  good  will  of  the  better  classes 
among  the  peoples  and  officials  of  central 
China."  But  he  concludes:  "British 
influence  in  the  Yangtze  Valley ,  as  in  the 
rest  of  China,  is,  relatively  to  thai  of  other 
nations,  not  an  increasing  but  a  steadily 
and  rapidly  diminishing  quantity." 


Sir  Archibald  Geikie,  who  retired  in 
March  from  the  head  of  the  British 
Geological  Survey,  was  born  in  Edin- 
burgh sixty-six  years  ago.  His  whole 
life  has  been  spent  in  geologic  work. 
When  barely  thirty  he  was  appointed 
Director  of  the  Scottish  Geological  Sur- 
vey, and  later  held  the  chair  of  geology 
in  Edinburgh  University.  In  1881  he 
was  chosen  Director  General  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  the  United  Kingdom, 
and  ten  years  later  was  knighted  in  ap- 
preciation of  his  work.  James  Geikie, 
whose  name  is  perhaps  better  known  in 
America,  is  the  younger  brother  of  Sir 
Archibald.  J.  J.  Harris  Teall,  the  well- 
known  writer  on  geological  subjects,  has 
succeeded  Sir  Archibald  Geikie  as  Di- 
rector General  of  the  British  Geological 
Survey. 


164         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


An  Austro-Hungarian  floating  exposi- 
tion leaves  Trieste  in  May  for  a  fifteen 
months'  voyage  around  the  world.  It 
is  deemed  impracticable  for  more  than 
one  ship  to  take  part  in  the  enterprise, 
as  the  trip  is  an  experiment.  New  York, 
San  Francisco,  Yokohama,  Shanghai, 
Singapore,  Batavia,  Calcutta,  Madras, 
Aden,  and  Suez  will  be  visited.  Firms 
that  send  exhibits  are  charged  $  1,000 
for  each  person  and  $200  for  every  cubic 
meter  of  space  or  per  ton  weight. 

U.  S.  Weather  Bureau.—  After  July  of 
this  year  the  number  of  forecast  districts 
of  the  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau  will  be 
increased  by  the  addition  of  Boston,  Gal- 
veston,  and  Denver  as  centers  of  new 
districts.  The  United  States  is  now  di- 
vided into  four  districts,  each  with  a 
center,  at  which  the  forecast  for  that 
particular  district  is  made.  These  cen- 
ters are  San  Francisco,  Portland, Oregon, 
Chicago,  and  Washington.  By  the  di- 
vision into  smaller  districts  greater  effi- 
ciency will  be  attained. 

An  Earthquake  Occurred  in  Spain  on 
February  10,  which  did  considerable 
damage  in  Grazalema,  a  town  of  10,000 
inhabitants  situated  in  a  hilly  district  of 
the  province  of  Cadiz,  about  70  kilome- 
ters, nearly  due  north,  from  Gibraltar. 
Several  large  buildings,  factories,  and 
mills,  as  well  as  the  church  of  St.  Joseph, 
were  severely  injured.  Senor  Augusto 
Arcimis,  writing  to  Nature  from  the 
Central  Meteorological  Institute  of  Mad- 
rid, says  that  the  body  of  water  that 
provided  motive  power  for  the  ma- 
chinery in  one  of  the  factories  has  dis 
appeared. 

British  Yukon  Telegraph. — It  has  been 
stated  with  apparent  certainty  that  the 
two  British  parties  constructing  the  tele- 
graph line  from  Quesnelle  to  Atlin,  who 
are  working  toward  each  other,  the  first 
from  Quesnelle  northward  and  the  sec- 
ond from  Atlin  southward,  at  the  half- 
way point,  instead  of  meeting,  found 


themselves  on  opposite  sides  of  an  im- 
passable mountain  range,  sixty  miles 
across.  Atlin  connects  with  the  United 
States  lines  uniting  Cape  Nome,  Daw- 
son,  and  the  military  posts  of  Alaska, 
while  from  Quesnelle  wires  run  to  the 
great  continental  systems. 

In  Jamaica  an  African  Language  is 
still  spoken  among  the  Maroons,  the 
descendants  of  wild  negroes  who  escaped 
from  slavery  during  the  early  days  of 
the  slave  trade.  According  to  Maj. 
J.  W.  Powell,  of  the  Bureau  of  Amer- 
ican Ethnology,  this  language  belongs 
to  the  Kongo  region.  .The  Maroons  of 
Jamaica  seem  to  be  in  a  barbarous  or 
semi-civilized  condition,  resembling  in 
this  respect  our  North  American  In- 
dians, and,  like  the  Amerinds,  they  are 
confined  to  reservations,  where  they 
still  preserve  many  of  the  customs  and 
traditions  of  their  savage  ancestors. 

The  Recent  Census  of  Vienna  shows 
that  in  Austria,  as  in  Germany,  there 
is  taking  place  a  very  rapid  increase  in 
city  populations,  due  in  large  part  to 
immigration  from  the  rural  districts. 
Vienna  has  now  1,635,647  inhabitants, 
and  has  increased  in  population  during 
the  past  ten  years  21.9  per  cent .  Vienna 
now  ranks  fourth  among  the  European 
capitals,  London,  Paris,  and  Berlin  ex- 
ceeding her.  London  and  Berlin  are 
increasing  at  a  faster  rate.  Of  Amer- 
ican cities,  New  York  and  Chicago  out- 
rank Vienna  in  numbers,  and  each  is 
increasing  more  rapidly — New  York 
37.8  per  cent,  and  Chicago  54.4  per 
cent,  in  ten  years. 

The  U.  S.  Board  on  Geographic  Names 
held  no  meeting  during  March.  By  act 
of  Congress  a  second  edition  is  being 
printed  of  the  volume  containing  all  the 
decisions  of  the  Board  up  to  January  i , 
1900.  Copies  of  the  report  may  be  ob- 
tained by  applying  to  Marcus  Baker, 
secretary  of  the  Board,  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey,  Washington,  D.  C. 


GEOGRAPHIC    LITERATURE 


Newest  England.  By  Henry  Demarest 
Lloyd.  Illustrated.  8vo.,  pp.  387. 
New  York  :  Doubleday  and  Page. 
Mr.  Lloyd  ably  traces  the  devel- 
opment of  those  forces  in  New  Zea- 
land which  have  given  pensions  to 
the  old  and  have  made  government 
monopolies  of  life  and  accident  in- 
surance, and  also  of  railways  and  tele- 
graphs. He  describes  the  government 
and  people  as  ' '  the  least  bad  this  side 
of  Mars" — i.  e.,  they  are  not  perfect, 
but  no  others  are  as  good.  The  rela- 
tively enormous  public  debt,  $300  for 
each  man,  woman,  or  child,  a  per  capita 
debt  which  in  this  country  would  amount 
to  twenty-two  billion  dollars,  and  the 
consequently  decreasing  birth  rate  are 
two  grave  facts  which  Mr.  Lloyd  over- 
looks. 

An  Old  Indian  Village.  By  Johan 
August  Udden.  Augustana  Library 
Publications,  No.  2.  Rock  Island, 
Illinois,  1900. 

Although  the  author  of  this  inter- 
esting brochure  lays  no  claim  to  special 
skill  in  archaeology,  his  work  may  well 
serve  as  a  model  to  local  archaeologists 
throughout  the  great  area  covered  by 
the  Mississippi  drainage  system. 

The  scene  of  the  explorations  con- 
ducted by  Professor  Udden  at  intervals 
during  seven  years  from  1881  is  Paint 
Creek  valley,  a  mile  and  a  half  south  of 
Smoky  Hill  River,  in  McPherson  Count)', 
Kansas.  The  village  remains  consisted 
of  fifteen  low  circular  mounds  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  in  diameter, 
without  particular  order  of  arrangement 
and  covering  an  area  of  about  twenty 
acres.  The  average  height  of  the 
mounds  is  about  two  feet,  while  some 
rise  only  very  slightly  above  the  sur- 
face of  the  prairie. 

Excavation  revealed  axes,  hammers, 


polishers,  metates,  manos,  flakers,  pipes, 
knives,  and  scrapers  of  stone,  and  awls, 
hoes,  beads,  gouges,  and  other  objects 
of  bone.  Bones  of  numerous  animals, 
fishes,  and  the  wild  turkey,  as  well  as 
the  valves  of  fresh-water  clams,  were 
also  found  during  the  excavations,  indi- 
cating that  the  former  occupants  of  the 
site  gained  a  livelihood  by  hunting  as 
well  as  by  agriculture. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  object  un- 
earthed from  the  Paint  Creek  village — 
certainly  the  most  interesting  from  the 
historical  and  geographic  points  of 
view — is  the  piece  of  chain  mail  illus- 
trated in  the  volume,  but  unfortunately 
since  lost.  The  definite  origin  of  this 
relic  of  early  Caucasian  exploration  is 
not  known,  but  as  the  field  of  Professor 
Udden' s  researches  was  unquestionably 
a  part  of  the  Province  of  Quivira,  which 
the  famous  expedition  of  Francisco  Vas- 
quez  Coronado  penetrated  in  1541,  and 
which  led  to  similar  expeditions  into  the 
same  locality  during  the  succeeding  half 
century,  the  relic  is  in  all  likelihood  of 
Spanish  origin. 

The  Province  of  Quivira  was  inhabited 
in  the  sixteenth  century  by  the  Wichita 
Indians,  who  later  occupied  an  extensive 
area  southward  in  the  present  Oklahoma, 
whence  the  name  of  the  Wichita  Moun- 
tains and  of  Washita  River.  They  were 
the  only  Indians  of  the  plains  who  lived 
in  grass  houses  (such  as  Coronado' s 
chroniclers  describe  as  having  been  seen 
in  the  Quivira  region),  the  Pawnees  oc- 
cupying earth  lodges,  and  other  plains 
tribes  portable  tipis  of  buffalo  hide.  We 
may  therefore  assume  that  the  Paint 
Creek  village  was  inhabited  by  the  corn- 
raising  and  buffalo-hunting  Wichitas,  as 
the  relics  would  seem  to  show,  and  prob- 
ably during  the  Coronado  period,  or  at 
any  rate  during  the  time  of  one  of  the 
immediately  succeeding  Spanish  expedi- 


1 66         THE  NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


tions  from  New  Mexico,  as  the  fragment 
of  chain  mail  tends  to  prove. 

Altogether  Professor  Udden's  work  is 
worthy  of  high  praise.  It  is  regrettable 
that  "  this  will  be  his  last  as  well  as  his 
first  paoer  bearing  on  topics  of  this 
kind."  "  F.  W.  HODGE. 

The  Romance  of  the  Earth.    By  A.  W. 

Bickerton.     Illustrated.     Small  8vo, 

pp.  181.    New  York:  The  Macmillan 

Co.,  1900.     $0.80. 

As  indicated  by  the  title,  the  author 
aims  to  describe  the  past  and  present  of 
the  earth  in  the  form  of  a  story.  The  idea 
and  its  execution  are  capital.  The  author 
naturally  has  not  adhered  strictly  to  the 
limits  of  known  science.  Where  human 
knowledge  can  throw  no  light,  he  per- 
mits himself  "to  speculate,  to  make 
deductions  from  the  accepted  laws  of 
nature  ' '  in  order  that  no  chapters  in  the 
romance  may  be  missing.  The  book  is 
instructive  and  interesting,  and  espe- 


cially valuable  to  stimulate  younger 
minds  to  learn  more  of  the  great  "  ro- 
mance of  the  earth." 

The   Philippines — The   War   and   the 

People*     By    Albert    G.     Robinson. 

Pp.    407.      New    York.      McClure, 

Phillips  &  Co.      1901. 

The  volume  consists  of  letters  written 
by  Mr  Robinson  to  the  New  York  tim- 
ing Post  while  he  was  staff  correspond- 
ent for  that  journal  in  the  Philippines. 
Mr  Robinson  is  inclined  to  believe  "that 
development  in  the  islands  would  be  im- 
possible without  the  patient,  submissive, 
industrious  Chinaman,"  who  is  "  a  sort 
of  necessary  evil."  The  book  contains 
much  valuable  information  about  the 
islands  and  their  people,  though  it  is 
doubtful  if  many  Americans  will  agree 
with  the  author's  pro-Filipino  tenden- 
cies. Specially  interesting  chapters  are, 
"  The  Moros  of  Mindanao  "  and  "  The 
Moros  of  Sulu." 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   THE   NATIONAL 
GEOGRAPHIC   SOCIETY 


Popular  Meetings.* 

March  /,  1901. — President  Graham  Bell  in 
the  chair.  Mr.  Gilson  Willetts  delivered  an 
illustrated  address,  "The  Recent  Famine  in 
India." 

March  75,  igor. — Vice-President  McGee  in 
the  chair.  Mr.  H.  L.  Bridginan,  Secretary  of 
the  Peary  Arctic  Club,  and  Dr.  Frederic  A. 
Cook,  of  the  Belgian  Antarctic  Expedition, 
delivered  illustrated  addresses  on  "The  Two 
Ends  of  the  Earth — Peary  and  the  North 
Pole,  and  The  Cruise  of  the  Belgica  in  the 
Antarctics." 

March  29,  1901. — President  Graham  Bell  in 
the  chair.  Mr.  Alexander  Hume  Ford  deliv- 
ered an  illustrated  address,  "The  Railways 
and  Waterways  of  the  Russian  Empire.'1 

*The  proceedings  of  the  technical  meetings 
during  March  will  appear  in  the  May  number. 


Afternoon  Meetings. 

March  5,  1901. — President  Graham  Bell  in 
the  chair.  Talcott  Williams,  LL.  D.,  de- 
livered an  illustrated  address,  "Western 
Asia." 

March  12,  1901. — President  Graham  Bell  in 
the  chair.  Hon.  John  Barrett  delivered  an 
illustrated  address,  "  Eastern  Asia — China." 

March  22,  1901. — President  Graham  Bell  in 
the  chair.  Prof.  H.  Morse  Stephens,  of  Cornell 
University,  delivered  an  address,  "Southern 
Asia — India." 

March  26,  1901. — President  Graham  Bell  in 
the  chair.  Prof.  Edwin  A.  Grosvenor,  of  Am- 
herst  College,  delivered  an  illustrated  address, 
"Northern  Asia — Siberia." 

April  2,  1901. — President  Graham  Bell  in 
the  chair.  Vice-President  McGee  delivered 
an  illustrated  address,  "Asia — The  Cradle  of 
Humanity." 


167 


Announcements. 

THK  ANNUAL   RECEPTION   OF   THE  SOCIETY 

will  be  held  on  Friday  evening,  April  12,  in 
the  parlors  of  the  Arlington  hotel.  Mr.  Paul 
Du  Chaillu  will  be  the  guest  of  honor  of  the 
:iety  and  will  give  some  reminiscences  of 
lis  travels. 

A  REGULAR  MEETING  OF  THE  SOCIETY 
vi\]  be  held  in  the  large  hall  of  the  Cosmos 
at  eight  o'clock  Friday  evening,  April 
19.  All  members  resident  in  Washington 
urged  to  attend,  as  important  proposed 
:hanges  in  the  by-laws,  submitted  and  recom- 
mended by  the  Board  of  Managers,  will  be 
:ted  upon. 

)bject  of  Proposed  Change  in  By-laws. 

The  Board  of  Managers  submits  and  recom- 
mends to  the  Society  important  amendments 
to  the  by-laws.  The  proposed  changes  are  so 
numerous  that,  for  the  sake  of  simplicity,  the 
Board  offers  an  entire  set  of  revised  by-laws 

i  replace  the  existing  by-laws.  Members  who 
wish  to  note  in  detail  the  modifications  pro- 
posed can  do  so  by  comparing  the  draft  which 
follows  with  the  existing  by-laws  as  printed 
in  the  MAGAZINE,  Vol.  IX,  pages  414-416. 
The  general  tenor  of  the  changes  is  set  forth 
in  the  following  paragraphs  : 

In  an  address  read  to  the  Board  of  Managers 
une  i,  1900,  and  printed  in  the  Magazine  for 
October  (Vol.  XI,  pages  401-408),  President 
Bell  advocated  various  changes  in  the  policy 
of  the  Society,  for  the  purpose  of  making  its 
character  more  truly  national.  The  revised 
by-laws  now  offered  embody  one  of  the  more 
radical  of  these  changes. 

At  the  present  time  the  Society  has  active 
members,  residing  chiefly  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, and  corresponding  members ',  residing 
chiefly  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States. 
The  dues  of  active  members  are  five  dollars, 
of  corresponding  members  two  dollars.  Both 
classes  receive  the  Magazine  ;  active  members 
have  in  addition  various  other  privileges,  in- 
cluding that  of  attending  lectures.  Thus  con- 
stituted the  Society  is  not  national  in  its  active 
membership,  but  only  through  its  correspond- 
ing membership.  It  is  now  proposed  (i)  to 
merge  the  grades  of  corresponding  member 
and  active  member  into  the  single  grade  of 
member,  (2)  to  fix  the  dues  for  all  at  two  dol- 
lars, (3)  to  treat  lecture  courses,  whether  in 
Washington  or  elsewhere,  as  local  privileges, 
to  be  paid  for  by  those  who  are  benefited. 

The  proposed  by-laws  include  many  minor 
changes  which  seem  to  the  Board  desirable  if 
the  general  change  in  organization  be  adopted. 
The  more  important  of  these  are  ( i)  the  en- 
largement of  the  Board  of  Managers  by  the 


addition  of  members  not  residing  in  the  Dis- 
trict ;  (2)  the  creation  of  an  Executive  Com- 
mittee for  the  transaction  of  current  business  ; 

(3)  the  restoration  of  the  fiscal  year  to  coinci- 
dence with  the  calendar  year  ;  (4)  the  omis- 
sion of  section  8  of  article  IV,  with  reference 
to  Managers  who  are  continuously  absent  from 
meetings  of  the  Board. 

They  include  also  a  number  of  changes  not 
specially  related  to  the  general  change  in  or- 
ganization. The  more  important  of  these  are 
(i)  the  substitution  of  the  single  office  of  Sec- 
retary for  the  two  offices  of  Recording  Secre- 
tary and  Corresponding  Secretary;  (2)  the 
omission  of  the  requirement  that  the  Secre- 
tary and  Treasurer  be  selected  from  the  Board 
of  Managers;  (3)  the  making  more  stringent 
the  rules  with  respect  to  arrearage  of  dues; 

(4)  the  reduction  of  the  quorum  of  the  Society 
from  25  to  20  ;  (5)  the  provision  that  official 
notice  of  proposed  amendments  to  the  by-laws 
may  be  given  through  the  Magazine. 

The  amendments  will  come  up  for  action  at 
the  regular  meeting  to  be  held  April  19. 

A.  J.  HENRY,  Secretary. 

Proposed  By-laws. 

ARTICLE  I. — Name. 

The  name  of  this  Society  is  The  National 
Geographic  Society. 

ARTICLE  II. — Object. 

The  object  of  the  Society  is  the  increase 
and  diffusion  of  geographic  knowledge. 

ARTICLE  III. — Membership. 

SECTION  i.  The  Society  shall  consist  of 
members  and  honorary  members. 

SEC.  2.  Members  shall  be  persons  interested 
in  geographic  science, 

SEC.  3.  Honorary  members  shall  he  persons 
who  have  attained  eminence  by  the  promotion 
of  geographic  science.  They  shall  not  be 
members  of  the  corporation,  nor  shall  they 
vote  or  hold  office. 

SEC.  4.  The  election  of  members  and  hon- 
orary members  shall  be  entrusted  to  the  Board 
of  Managers. 

ARTICLE  IV. — Officers. 

SECTION  i. — The  administration  of  the  So- 
ciety shall  be  entrusted  to  a  Board  of  Mana- 
gers composed  of  twenty-four  members,  eight 
of  whom  shall  be  elected  by  the  Society  at 
each  annual  meeting,  to  serve  for  three  years, 
or  until  their  successors  are  elected.  Of  the 
eight  members  elected  at  each  annual  meet- 
ing, not  less  than  four  nor  more  than  six  shall 


1 68          THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


be  residents  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  A 
majority  of  the  votes  cast  shall  be  necessary 
for  election. 

SKC.  2.  The  Hoard  of  Managers  shall  elect 
annually  from  their  own  number  a  President 
and  a  Vice-President,  and  shall  elect  annually 
a  Treasurer  and  a  Secretary. 

SKC.  3.  The  President  shall  preside  at  the 
meetings  of  the  Society  and  of  the  Board  of 
Managers,  or  may  delegate  this  duty.  The 
President  and  the  Secretary  shall  sign  all  writ- 
ten contracts  and  obligations  of  the  Society. 

SKC.  4.  In  the  absence  of  the  President  his 
duties  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice-President. 

SKC.  5.  The  Treasurer  shall  have  charge  of 
the  funds  of  the  Society,  under  the  direction 
of  the  Board  of  Managers,  and  shall  make 
collections  and  disbursements  and  render  an 
annual  report,  and  his  accounts  shall  be  au- 
dited by  a  committee  of  the  Society,  not 
members  of  the  Board,  annually  and  at  such 
other  times  as  the  Board  may  direct. 

SKC.  6.  The  Secretary  shall  record  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Society  and  of  the  Board  of 
Managers,  conduct  correspondence,  and  make 
an  annual  report. 

SEC.  7.  The  Board  of  Managers  shall  fill 
vacancies  arising  in  the  Board. 

SKC.  8.  All  officers  shall  serve  until  their 
successors  are  chosen. 

ARTICLE  V. — Committees. 

SKCTION  i.  The  Board  of  Managers  shall 
select  annually  from  its  own  number  an  Ex- 
ecutive Committee. 

SKC.  2.  There  shall  be  standing  committees 
on  Publications,  Communications,  Admissions, 
Research,  and  Finance,  whose  chairmen  shall 
be  members  of  the  Board  of  Managers.  These 
committees  shall  be  appointed  immediately 
after  the  annual  election  of  the  President  to 
s-jrve  until  their  successors  are  designated. 

SKC.  3.  The  committees  of  the  Society  and 
of  the  Board  of  Managers  shall  be  appointed 
by  the  President,  except  when  otherwise  pro- 
vided. The  President  shall  be  a  member  ex 
ojficio  of  every  committee. 

ARTICLK  VI. — Finances. 

SKCTION  i.  The  fiscal  year  of  the  Society 
shall  begin  on  the  first  day  of  January. 

SKC.  2.  The  annual  dues  of  members  shall 
be  two  dollars,  payable  in  January. 

SKC.  3.  Annual  dues  may  be  commuted  and 
life  membership  acquired  by  the  payment  at 
one  time  of  fifty  dollars. 

SKC.  4.  Members  whose  dues  remain  unpaid 
on  March  i  shall  be  notified  by  the  Treasurer 
that  unless  the  dues  are  paid  within  one 
month  they  will  be  in  arrears  and  not  entitled 
to  vote  at  the  annual  meeting,  to  receive  the 


publications  of  the  Society,  or  to  purchase 
lecture  tickets  on  members' terms.  Members 
one  year  in  arrears  shall,  after  forma!  notifi- 
cation, be  regarded  as  having  withdrawn  from 
the  Society. 

SH.C.  5.  The  funds  of  the  Society  may  be 
invested  and  loans  may  be  negotiated  in  tin- 
interests  of  the  Society,  and  any  other  finan- 
cial business  germane  to  the  purposes  of  the 
Society  may  be  transacted  by  the  Board  of 
Managers. 

ARTICLE  V 'II. —Meetings. 

SKCTION  r.  Regular  meetings  of  the  Society 
shall  be  held  on  alternate  Fridays  from  No- 
vember until  May. 

SKC.  2.  Special  meetings  may  be  ordered 
by  the  Board  of  Managers  or  called  by  the 
President. 

SEC.  3.  The  annual  meeting  shall  be  held 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  on  the  second 
Friday  in  January. 

SEC.  4.  Twenty  members  shall  constitute  a 
quorum. 

SKC.  5.  Regular  meetings  of  the  Board  of 
Managers  shall  be  held  on  the  same  days  as 
the  regular  meetings  of  the  Society  ;  special 
meetings  may  be  held  at  the  call  of  the  Presi- 
dent or  on  notice  signed  by  five  members  of 
the  Board  :  Provided,  That  for  any  of  its  own 
meetings  the  Board  may  substitute  meetings 
of  the  Executive  Committee. 

SKC-  6.  Lectures  and  lecture  courses  may 
be  provided  by  the  Board  of  Managers.  Free 
admission  to  such  lectures  shall  not  l>e  a  pre- 
rogative of  membership,  but  tickets  shall  be 
sold  to  members  on  more  favorable  terms  than 
to  non-members:  Provided,  That  each  life 
member  who  acquired  life  membership  prior 
to  the  year  1901  shall  be  entitled  to  tuo.nl 
missions  to  each  lecture  and  course. 

ARTICLE  VIII.  —  Publications. 

The  Society  shall  publish  a  journal  or  peri- 
odical  under  the  title  THE  NATIONAL  (',  !•:<> 
GRAPHIC  MAGA/.I.VK.  which  shall  be  sent  to  all 
members  of   the  Society  not  in  arrears,  and 
may  be  placed  on  sale. 

ARTICLE  IX. — Amendments. 

These  By-Laws  may  be  amended  by  a  two- 
thirds  vote  of  the  members  present  at  any 
regular  meeting.provided  the  proposed  amend- 
ments are  reported  by  the  Board  of  Managers, 
and  provided  that  notice  thereof  has  been  sent 
to  all  members  of  the  Society  not  less  than 
ten  nor  more  than  sixty  days  before  the  meet- 
ing. The  publication  of  proposed  amend- 
ments in  THK  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  M.\<;- 
AZINE  shall  be  deemed  a  notice  within  the 
meaning  of  this  article. 


VOL.  XII,  No.  5 


WASHINGTON 


MAY,  1901 


TH 


THE     LATIN-AMERICAN     CONSTITUTIONS 
AND    REVOLUTIONS 

BY  JOHN  W.   FOSTER,   EX-SECRETARY  OF  STATE 


ON  attaining  their  independence, 
the  Latin-American  republics 
modeled  their  forms  of  govern- 
ment after  that  of  the  United  States. 
In  almost  all  their  constitutions  the 
article  relating  to  the  executive  power, 
like  that  of  the  United  States,  contained 
no  prohibition  against  the  reelection  of 
the  President.  But  a  bitter  and  bloody 
experience  has  caused  them,  with  nearly 
the  same  degree  of  unanimity,  to  revise 
their  constitutions  in  this  respect. 

The  provisions  of  the  existing  consti- 
tutions of  those  countries  relating  to  the 
executive  may  be  briefly  enumerated  as 
follows :  In  Mexico  the  president  is 
chosen  for  four  years  by  an  electoral  col- 
lege, and  no  prohibition  exists  against  a 
reelection.  The  cause  of  this  exception 
to  the  general  practice  will  be  referred 
to  later.  The  secretary  of  foreign  re- 
lations succeeds  to  the  presidency  on  the 
death  or  disability  of  the  president  and 
orders  a  new  election.  In  the  five  Cen- 
tral American  States  the  provisions  vary 
as  to  the  manner  of  election  and  term 
)f  office,  but  in  most  of  them  the  presi- 
lent  is  made  ineligible  for  reelection 


for  the  next  succeeding  term.  So,  also 
the  prohibition  against  reelection  to  be 
noted  in  the  countries  which  follow  is 
in  almost  all  cases  for  the  next  suc- 
ceeding term  only.  In  Colombia  the 
president  is  chosen  by  an  electoral  col- 
lege for  a  period  of  six  years,  and  is 
made  ineligible  for  reelection.  Ecua- 
dor elects  its  president  by  the  direct 
vote  of  the  people  for  the  term  of  four 
years,  and  he  cannot  be  reflected.  The 
vice-president  is  elected  for  the  same 
term,  but  two  years  after  the  president. 
Peru  elects  its  president  by  a  direct  pop- 
ular vote  for  four  years,  and  he  is  made 
ineligible  for  the  next  four  years.  Two 
vice-presidents  are  elected.  Bolivia  has 
the  same  provision  as  Peru.  In  Chile 
the  president  is  elected  by  delegates 
chosen  by  the  people  for  the  term  of 
five  years,  and  he  is  made  ineligible  for 
the  next  term.  The  Argentine  Repub- 
lic elects  its  president  by  electors  chosen 
by  the  fourteen  provinces  for  six  years, 
and  both  the  president  and  vice-president 
are  declared  ineligible  for  reelection.  In 
Uruguay  the  president  is  elected  for  four 
years,  and  made  ineligible  for  the  sue- 


170         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


ceeding  term.  In  Paraguay  the  presi- 
dent is  chosen  by  a  direct  vote  of  the 
people  for  four  years,  and  both  presi- 
dent and  vice-president  are  non-eligible 
for  eight  years.  Brazil,  the  last  of  these 
countries  to  assume  a  republican  form 
of  government,  and  profiting  by  the  ex- 
perience of  its  neighbors,  provided  for 
the  election  of  its  president  by  a  direct 
vote  of  the  people  for  four  years,  and 
made  him  ineligible  for  reelection.  Its 
constitution  also  contains  a  provision 
that  the  candidates  must  not  be  related 
by  blood  or  marriage  to  the  outgoing 
president  or  vice-president  in  the  first 
or  second  degree.  In  Venezuela  the 
choice  of  the  chief  executive  is  somewhat 
complicated.  Congress  consists  of  two 
houses,  the  representatives  being  elected 
for  two  years  by  the  people,  and  the 
senators  for  four  years  by  the  state 
legislatures.  A  federal  council  of  nine- 
teen members  is  chosen  every  two  years 
by  the  congress,  who  elects  a  presiding 
officer  from  their  own  number,  and  he 
is  president  of  the  republic  for  the  two 
years.  Neither  the  president  nor  coun- 
cil can  be  reflected  for  the  next  term. 

When  these  countries  declared  their 
independence  and  first  essayed  the  prac- 
tice of  republican  government,  the)'  soon 
found  that  the  greatest  danger  to  their 
institutions  arose  from  the  disposition 
of  the  chief  executives  to  prolong  their 
power  by  continuance  in  office,  in  vio- 
lation of  the  constitutional  provision. 
Iturbide,  the  first  president  of  Mexico, 
betrayed  his  trust,  declared  himself  em-, 
peror,  and  dissolved  the  congress  by 
force,  precipitating  the  country  into 
revolution  and  paying  the  penalty  with 
his  life. 

Simon  Bolivar,  the  most  renowned  of 
the  Spanish-American  patriots  and  the 
one  who  did  most  to  achieve  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  South  American  coun- 
tries, marked  his  entire  career  by  over- 
riding their  constitutional  provisions  as 
to  the  executive  and  by  assuming  dicta- 
torial powers.  As  early  as  1813  he 


captured  Caracas  from  the  Spaniards 
and  set  up  the  government  of  Vene- 
zuela, but  he  at  once  declared  himself" 
dictator,  established  a  court  and  body- 
guard, and  assumed  royal  dignities. 
He  soon  became  unpopular,  met  with 
reverses,  and  had  to  flee  the  country. 
Returning  after  some  years,  he  led  the 
insurrectionary  movement  which  gave 
final  independence  to  Venezuela  and 
Colombia,  and  thence  went  to  the  aid 
of  the  struggling  Peruvian  patriots, 
achieved  their  independence,  and  was 
made  dictator  of  that  country.  Having 
failed  in  his  effort  to  secure  a  provision 
in  the  constitution  making  himself 
president  for  life,  he  returned  to  Co- 
lombia, where  he  was  chosen  president 
of  the  united  states  of  Colombia  and 
Venezuela.  Seeking  in  vain  to  secure 
a  constitutional  provision  giving  him 
practically  absolute  power,  he  declared 
himself  dictator.  Being  suspected  of 
desiring  to  make  himself  a  king,  he  lost 
his  popularity,  was  driven  from  power, 
and  died  in  retirement.  He  was  called 
"  the  Washington  of  South  America," 
but  beyond  his  gallant  services  in  secur- 
ing the  independence  of  the  northern 
states  of  South  America,  he  had  little 
in  common  with  Washington  in  his  con- 
duct or  character.  The  example  of  the 
latter  was  lost  upon  him  when  he  re 
jected  the  offer  of  the  American  army 
to  make  him  king,  and  when,  after 
having  enjoyed  the  free  suffrages  of  hu 
countrymen  as  President,  he  voluntarily 
laid  down  the  great  office  and  retired  to 
private  life. 

If  the  history  of  the  L,atin  American 
republics  is  carefully  examined  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  cause  of  most  of  the 
revolutions  which  have  darkened  its 
pages,  decimated  their  population,  and 
retarded  their  development  has  had  its 
origin  in  the  efforts  of  the  public  men 
of  those  countries  to  continue  them- 
selves in  power  or  to  attain  the  presi- 
dency by  other  than  peaceful  and  con- 
stitutional methods.  With  rare  excep- 


LATIN-AMERICAN   CONSTITUTIONS — REVOLUTIONS      171 


tions  the  revolutions  and  blood}-  contests 
of  these  republics  for  the  past  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  have  been  purely 
of  a  personal  character,  the  struggles  of 
the  partisans  of  one  aspiring  individual 
against  the  partisans  of  his  ambitious 
opponent.  One  of  the  most  notable  ex- 
ceptions was  the  war  of  reform  waged 
in  Mexico  for  ten  years,  beginning  in 
!857,  by  the  liberal  party  against  the 
united  power  of  the  clergy  and  Emperor 
Napoleon.  That  was  a  heroic  war,  in- 
volving great  principles  of  government. 

I  can  probably  best  illustrate  the  his- 
torical fact  of  this  personal  cause  of 
revolutions  by  a  very  brief  sketch  of 
the  experience  of  two  of  these  repub- 
lics— one  the  most  revolutionary  and  the 
other  the  most  conservative  and  prosper- 
ous of  the  Spanish -American  countries. 

Venezuela,  on  its  separation  from  Co- 
lombia in  1831,  chose  Paez  president. 
He  filled  out  his  term,  and  in  1835 
sought  by  his  official  influence  to  trans- 
fer the  presidency  to  Vargas,  who  was 
very  unpopular,  and  within  four  months 
was  overthrown  and  banished.  Paez 
came  from  retirement, gathered  an  army, 
took  the  capital,  reinstated  Vargas,  and, 
ultimately  succeeding  him,  was  made 
dictator.  In  1847  he  transferred  the 
presidency,  against  the  protest  of  con- 
gress, to  Monagas,  who  caused  his  sol- 
diers to  invade  the  assembly,  killing 
some  and  dispersing  the  rest.  Paez 
finally  took  up  arms  against  the  govern- 
ment, but  was  outlawed,  defeated,  and 
escaped  to  New  York.  In  the  election 
to  succeed  Monagas  three  candidates 
were  in  the  field,  and  as  none  had  the 
constitutional  majority,  the  election 
went  to  congress,  and  Monagas'  brother 
Gregorio  was  selected,  and  until  1858 
the  two  brothers  alternated  in  the  pres- 
idency. In  that  year  their  career  ended 
by  a  revolution,  which  created  a  pro- 
visional government  that  brought  in 
Castro  as  president;  but  his  was  a  turb- 
ulent reign,  and  he  was  displaced  by 
Gual,  who  tried  and  convicted  Castro  as 


a  traitor  and  then  pardoned  him.  Tovar 
succeeded  by  election  to  the  presidency , 
and  he  recalled  Paez  and  made  him  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  army,  but  the 
latter  quarreled  with  Tovar,  compelled 
him  to  abdicate, and  placed  Gual  again  in 
the  presidency.  Gual  likewise  lost  the 
favor  of  Paez,  the  president  and  his 
ministers  were  imprisoned,  and  Paez  was 
declared  dictator.  Revolution  and  an- 
archy followed  for  two  years,  when  Paez 
and  his  partisan,  Rojas,  had  to  surrender 
the  government  to  the  insurgents  under 
Falcon  in  1863.  A  constituent  assem- 
bly and  a  new  constitution  followed  in 
1864,  and  Falcon,  the  insurgent  leader, 
was  declared  president,  and  he  turned 
the  government  over  to  his  partisan, 
Trias,  which  occasioned  a  new  revolu- 
tion, and  general  anarch}-  and  financial 
distress  prevailed.  In  1867  congress 
gave  unlimited  powers  to  the  president, 
but  the  next  year  Monagas,  after  de- 
feating Falcon,  succeeded  to  the  presi- 
dency, and  died  in  office.  His  adherents 
made  Pulgar  provisional  president,  but 
the  Falcon  party,  led  by  General  Guz- 
man Blanco,  were  enabled  to  overturn 
the  provisional  government,  and  Blanco 
entered  upon  his  checkered  career,  cov- 
ering several  years,  in  which  he  assumed 
dictatorial  powers,  to  be  at  last  rejected 
by  his  country,  and  he  spent  the  last 
years  of  his  life  in  Paris,  enjoying  lux- 
urious ease  with  his  ill-gotten  fortune. 
He  was  followed  by  a  list  of  constitu- 
tional and  revolutionary  rulers,  in  turn, 
up  to  the  actual  president,  Castro,  who 
came  to  power  through  force  and  be- 
trayal of  his  chief. 

Let  us  turn  from  this  dismal  narrative 
to  a  less  dreary  story,  but  one  which 
illustrates  as  well  the  point  which  I  am 
seeking  to  make  clear.  Chile  has  had 
from  the  beginning  of  its  existence  a 
more  fortunate  career,  in  that  its  wealthy 
and  more  intelligent  citizens  have  usu- 
ally controlled  the  government,  and  as 
a  result  it  has  prospered  and  its  financial 
credit  has  led  all  the  other  states.  But 


172          THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


it  will  be  seen  that  when  private  animos- 
ities or  personal  ambitions  were  awak- 
ened, constitutional  provisions  were  of 
little  avail.  After  Chilian  independence 
was  secured,  General  O'Higgins  was 
called  to  the  head  of  the  government 
and  became  dictator,  but  he  was  finally 
driven  from  power  by  a  revolution  and 
Freire  was  chosen  president  in  1 823.  He 
remained  in  office  three  years,  but  was 
troubled  with  frequent  insurrections, 
and  the  four  years  following  his  retire- 
ment saw  six  dictators.  In  1828  a  new 
constitution  was  promulgated,  and  in 
1831  Prieto  was  chosen  president,  and 
from  that  date  for  many  years  a  consti- 
tutional form  of  government  was  en- 
joyed, although  defeated  candidates  for 
the  presidency  more  than  once  organized 
unsuccessful  revolutions  on  the  ground 
that  they  had  been  defrauded  in  the  elec- 
tions. In  1 890,  near  the  close  of  Balma- 
ceda's  term,  he  was  suspected  of  select- 
ing the  chief  of  his  cabinet  to  be  his 
successor.  This  choice  was  contrary  to 
the  wishes  of  the  majority  of  the  con- 
gress, which  body  refused  to  vote  the 
budget  appropriations,  and  Balmaceda 
retaliated  by  dissolving  congress.  The 
leaders  of  the  latter  went  on  board  the 
government  fleet,  which  pronounced  in 
favor  of  the  Congressional  party,  and 
thus  a  revolution  was  inaugurated  which 
resulted  in  the  overthrow  of  Balmaceda. 
One  of  its  evil  effects  was  to  bring  about 
complications  with  the  United  States 
nearly  ending  in  war,  and  which  have 
embittered  the  Chilians  strongly  against 
our  Government. 

The  record  of  all  the  Latin-American 
republics  has  not  been  as  bad  as  that  of 
Venezuela,  though  some  of  them  equal 
it  in  their  history  of  anarchy  and  mis- 
rule, and  few,  if  any,  of  them  have  even 
as  clear  a  record  as  tha*t  of  Chile;  but 
they  all  teach  the  same  lesson  of  inability 
to  respect  the  constitutional  provision 
as  to  the  executive  power,  when  a  fierce 
electoral  campaign  is  carried  on.  Such  a 
test  as  came  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 


States  following  the  Jefferson-Adams 
campaign  of  1800,  the  Jackson- Adams 
Crawford-Clay  campaign  of  1824,  or  the 
Hayes-Tilden  campaign  of  187^,  would 
almost  inevitably  bring  about  a  revolu- 
tion or  a  disregard  of  the  constitution  in 
any  of  the  Latin- American  States. 

The  experience  of  the  past  year  dem- 
onstrates the  lesson  of  their  history. 
We  have  been  reading  the  almost  daily 
reports  of  the  revolutionary  movements 
in  Venezuela  and  Colombia.  The  dis- 
orders in  Venezuela  had  their  origin  in 
the  election  about  three  years  ago,  when 
Andrade  was  declared  to  be  chosen  presi- 
dent over  his  competitor,  Hernandez. 
The  latter  contended  that  he  was  t 
real  choice,  and  his  partisan,  Gene 
Castro,  took  up  arms  to  place  his  can 
date  in  the  executive  chair.  Castro  de- 
feated the  government  forces  and  drove 
Andrade  from  the  country,  but  in  place 
of  installing  Hernandez  in  power  Castro 
imprisoned  him,  and  declared  himself 
president.  Hernandez  succeeded  in  es- 
caping, and  both  he  and  Andrade  are 
now  reported  to  be  seeking  to  drive  the 
usurper  from  power  ;  but  even  if  Castro 
is  displaced  the  two  claimants  will  still 
have  their  own  contest  to  settle.  A  late 
telegram  states  that'a  constitutional  con- 
vention has  been  convoked  by  Castro, 
and  that  this  body  will  frame  a  new  con- 
stitution, with  an  article  extending,  the 
president's  term  of  office  from  two  to 
seven  years. 

President  McKinley,  in  his  last  an- 
nual message,  stated  that  "  the  execu- 
tive power  of  Colombia  changed  hands 
in  August  last  by  the  act  of  Vice-Pre>i- 
dent  Marroquin  in  assuming  the  reins 
of  government  during  the  absence  of 
President  San  Clemente  from  the  capi- 
tal." This  gave  rise  to  armed  resist- 
ance, and  we  have  had  for  months  the 
periodical  announcement  that  the  revo- 
lution had  been  put  down,  only  to  break 
out  again  with  fresh  vigor.  The  diplo- 
matic representative  of  the  revolutionists 
recently  announced  from  New  York  that 


LATIN-AMERICAN    CONSTITUTIONS — REVOLUTIONS      173 


' '  the  liberals  will  never  consent  to  serve 
again  under  a  president  forced  upon  the 
people  by  the  conservatives. ' '  The  New 
York  Independent,  in  seeking  to  give  its 
readers  an  account  of  affairs,  says :  ' '  The 
revolution  in  Colombia  that  was  said  to 
be  put  down  some  months  ago  is  alive 
again  and  widespread.  It  is  a  most  re- 
markable fact  that  this  revolution  has 
caused  the  loss  of  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  lives,  and  yet  no  one  seems  to 
know  anything  about  it.  Cities  are 
taken  and  retaken,  generals  are  killed, 
neighboring  republics  are  accused  of 
helping  the  insurgents,  business  is  par- 
alyzed, towns  are  razed  to  the  ground, 
and  yet  there  seems  to  be  no  principle 
involved,  nor  wrong  to  be  redressed  by 
either  party's  victory." 

I  have  noticed  the  provision  of  the 
constitution"  of  Brazil,  one  of  the  most 
recent,  which,  in  addition  to  the  prohi- 
bition of  reelection,  makes  ineligible  to 
the  presidency  candidates  related  by 
blood  or  marriage  to  the  outgoing  presi- 
dent in  the  first  or  second  degree.  This 
is  intended  to  strike  at  an  evil  akin  to 
the  continuance  in  power  of  the  incum- 
bent— the  perpetuation  of  the  same  fam- 
ily influence  in  the  executive  office.  We 
have  seen  that  in  Venezuela  two  brothers 
alternated  for  some  years  in  the  presi- 
dency, until  overthrown  by  revolution. 
Two  of  these  republics  are  today  gov- 
erned by  the  same  family,  one  president 
making  way  at  the  end  of  his  term  for 
another  member  of  the  family. 

Owing  to  the  sad  experience  of  the 
past,  the  Latin- American  States  have,  as 
we  have  seen,  with  a  great  degree  of  una- 
nimity attempted  to  remedy  the  evil  by 
inserting  in  their  constitutions  a  prohi- 
bition against  the  reelection  of  the  chief 
executive;  but  that  has  proved  in  many 
cases  a  most  ineffectual  remedy,  because 
the  men  who  are  ready  to  resort  to  arms 
to  secure  what  they  claim  as  their  rights 
seldom  hesitate  to  disregard  the  consti- 
tution, or  else  find  means  to  amend  it  to 
suit  the  exigency. 


I  have  referred  to  the  fact  that  one  of 
the  exceptions  in  existing  constitutional 
prohibitions  of  reelection  is  to  be  found 
in  the  fundamental  code  of  Mexico.  The 
circumstances  which  have  brought  this 
about  are  peculiar  and  interesting.  The 
constitution  of  1857,  still  in  force,  con- 
tained no  such  prohibition.  General 
Porfirio  Diaz  was  twice  a  candidate  for 
president  against  Juarez,  and  he  claimed 
that  he  was  the  people's  choice,  but  had 
been  counted  out  by  the  administration 
officials  who  had  control  of  the  elections. 
Lerdo,  the  head  of  the  cabinet,  became 
president  upon  the  death  of  Juarez,  and 
when  the  time  approached  for  the  elec- 
tion upon  the  expiration  of  Lerdo' s 
term,  Diaz  announced  to  the  country 
that  it  was  useless  to  stand  as  a  candi- 
date, because  of  the  absolute  control  of 
the  electoral  college  by  the  government. 
He  therefore  issued  a  pronunciamento , 
declaring  for  an  amendment  of  the  con- 
stitution, and  with  the  cry  of  "no  re- 
election," he  organized  a  revolution 
which  was  successful.  Lerdo  and  his 
cabinet  fled  to  the  United  States,  Diaz 
assumed  the  presidency,  ordered  a  new 
election,  and  was  unanimously  chosen. 
The  constitution  was  in  due  course 
amended  so  as  to  prohibit  the  reelection 
of  the  president  until  four  years  after 
his  first  term  had  expired. 

At  the  end  of  his  term  Diaz  retired 
from  office,  and  his  favorite  general  was 
elected  his  successor.  The  latter  proved 
so  inefficient  and  dishonest  that  at  the 
end  of  his  term  all  classes  clamored  for 
the  return  of  Diaz,  whose  first  adminis- 
tration had  been  quite  a  successful  one. 
His  second  term  was  even  more  success- 
ful than  the  first.  Peace  and  security 
prevailed  throughout  the  land.  Com- 
merce, agriculture,  mining — every  in- 
dustry of  the  country — prospered  as 
never  before.  Railroads  were  built,  cap- 
ital began  to  flow  in  from  abroad,  the 
government  credit,  which  had  been  ut- 
terly discredited  for  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury, was  fully  reestablished.  No  one 


174        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


would  listen  to  his  retirement,  and  so 
the  prohibiting  amendment  was  stricken 
out  of  the  constitution,  and  Diaz  was 
again  chosen  president;  and  he  has  again 
and  again  been  reflected  without  any 
open  protest,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury' he  has  been  the  untrammeled  ruler 
of  Mexico.  Every  one  conversant  with 
the  history  of  that  country  concedes 
that  he  is  the  best  ruler  it  has  had  since 
the  independence.  He  has  given  it 
peace,  order,  and  the  reign  of  law.  It 
has  risen  phoenix-like  from  the  ashes  of 
anarchy  and  commercial  death,  and  the 
praises  of  Diaz  as  an  administrator  and 
a  patriot  are  sounded  at  home  and 
abroad. 

But  what  becomes  of  the  principles  of 
republican  government  ?  Diaz,  through 
his  strength  of  character  and  wise  gov- 
ernment, has  been  the  supreme  ruler, 
although  acting  through  the  channels 
of  constitutional  authority  and  repre- 
sentative institutions.  This  example 
may  raise  the  doubt  whether  republic- 
anism in  its  extreme  form  is  adapted  to 
these  countries,  or  whether  some  limita- 
tions should  not  be  placed  upon  it.  The 
present  is  probably  Diaz'  last  term,  as 
he  is  now  past  seventy,  and  I  believe  he 
is  sincere  in  his  expressed  desire  to  re- 
tire to  private  life.  The  test  of  repub- 
lican government  will  come  when  his 
successors  are  to  be  chosen.  Not  the 
first,  but  probably  the  second  term  will 
test  the  ability  of  the  Mexicans  to  choose 
their  rulers  in  peace  and  observe  repub- 
lican practices.  Mexico,  like  its  south- 
ern neighbors,  has  not  yet  fully  proven 
its  capacity  to  consistently  follow  these 
practices  and  to  peacefully  and  by  con- 
stitutional methods  transmit  the  execu- 
tive power  from  one  ruler  to  another. 

,  How  far  the  people  of  these  countries 
are  fitted  to  carry  on  republican  and 
representative  government  in  our  sense 
opens  up  a  topic  which  cannot  be  pur- 
sued in  this  paper;  but  I  offer  a  few 
suggestions  by  way  of  explanation  of 
the  apparent  failure  in  many  of  them. 


First,  the  great  mass  of  their  popula- 
tions are  ignorant  and  uneducated;  in 
many  of  the  countries  they  do  not  even 
read  and  write  the  official  language  of 
their  government,  and  as  a  rule  take  no 
part  in  the  elections.  They,  however, 
compose  in  the  main  the  armies  of  the 
government  and  the  revolutions.  Sec- 
ond, the  people  of  these  countries,  both 
the  educated  and  the  uneducated,  had 
no  experience  in  self-government  before 
their  independence.  In  this  respect  the 
British-American  colonies  had  a  great 
advantage  over  them,  and  we  should  be 
charitable  in  our  criticism  of  them. 
The  misfortune  is,  however,  that  they 
have  had  very  little  practice  in  genuine 
republican  government  since  their  inde- 
pendence. They  understand  the  force 
of  the  bullet  much  more  than  the  ballot. 
The  result  has  been  the  rule  of  the  dic- 
tator or  usurper  more  often  than  that 
of  the  real  representative  of  the  people. 
The  intelligent  men,  the  best  citi/ens. 
and  the  property-holders  deplore  the 
revolutions,  and  they  are  exerting  them- 
selves to  put  an  end  to  these  practices, 
and  their  good  work  is  apparent  in  some 
of  the  countries,  and  I  think  the  general 
tendency  is  toward  orderly  and  consti- 
tutional government. 

This  subject  has  a  special  interest  for 
the  people  of  the  United  States  : 

First.  It  raises  the  question  how  far 
it  is  the  duty  of  our  Government  to  in- 
terpose respecting  an  American  republic, 
which  has  fallen  into  anarchy,  against 
the  encroachments  of  European  powers 
whose  subjects  have  suffered  outrages 
at  the  hands  of  the  local  military  power>  ? 
I  fully  sympathize  with  the  Cleveland 
administration  in  its  action  on  the  Vene- 
zuelan boundary  question,  but  many 
Americans  thought  it  would  have  been 
better  for  the  interests  directly  concerned 
if  all  the  territory  in  dispute  had  fallen 
under  British  sovereignty. 

Second.  We  are  often  embarrassed  as 
a  nation  by  these  frequent  revolutions. 
I  have  noted  how  near  we  came  to  war 


LATIN-AMERICAN    CONSTITUTIONS — REVOLUTIONS      175 


with  Chile  because  of  its  disturbed  con- 
dition and  the  enmity  engendered  by 
the  action  of  our  Government.  We  have 
commerce  with  all  these  countries,  many 
of  our  citizens  have  invested  capital 
therein,  and  these  interests  cannot  fail 
to  be  injured  by  the  civil  disorder  occa- 
sioned by  the  strife  of  ambitious  men. 
Does  any  one  believe  that  our  Govern- 
ment could  look  on  with  indifference  if 
our  next  door  neighbor,  Mexico,  should 
again  fall  into  anarchy,  as  at  frequent 
intervals  in  the  past,  and  the  millions 
of  American  capital  which  has  been  at- 
tracted thither  by  the  beneficent  rule  of 
Diaz  should  become  the  prey  of  revo- 
lutionists and  rival  aspirants  for  the 
presidency  ? 

Third.  The  Spanish  war  has  made  the 
subject  a  practical  problem  for  us.  The 
territory  which  we  took  from  Mexico 
was  soon  overrun  by  Americans,  and  its 
government  was  readily  adapted  to  our 
system.  But  Porto  Rico  is  already 
densely  populated  with  people  educated 
in  Spanish-American  methods  of  gov- 
ernment. We  have  already  had  an  ex- 
hibition of  the  embarrassments  to  be 
overcome.  In  the  first  election  held 
under  the  territorial  organization  pro- 
vided by  Congress  a  practice  was  re- 
sorted to  very  common  in  the  Latin- 
American  republics — when  one  party 
finds  itself  outnumbered  or  outwitted 
in  the  campaign,  it  abstains  in  a  body 
from  the  election,  and  then  cries  fraud 
or  force.  We  read  that  in  the  late  elec- 
tion in  Porto  Rico  for  the  territorial 
legislature  and  other  offices,  one  party, 
the  Federals,  refused  to  go  to  the  polls, 
and  the  Republicans,  as  a  consequence, 
elected  all  their  candidates  ;  but  in  cele- 
brating the  victory  they  were  attacked 
by  the  Federals,  and  several  were  killed 
and  wounded  in  the  affray. 


We  have  by  act  of  Congress  become 
responsible  for  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  a  stable  government  in 
Cuba.  The  history  of  their  brethren 
of  the  same  race  in  Central  and  South 
America  does  not  give  much  assurance 
that  the  Cubans  will  soon  attain  the 
position  required  by  Congress.  One  of 
the  first  steps  in  that  direction  which  is 
foreshadowed,  the  election  to  the  presi- 
dency of  a  professional  revolutionist, 
born  and  educated  in  San  Domingo, 
does  not  argue  well  for  the  future.  In 
the  election  held  to  choose  delegates  to 
the  convention  to  frame  a  constitution, 
only  a  minority  of  the  qualified  electors 
took  part,  and  I  have  good  authority 
for  the  statement  that  fully  95  per  cent 
of  the  electors  representing  the  property 
interests  of  the  island  abstained  from  the 
election. 

And  yet  it  appears  that  this  minority 
of  the  people  of  Cuba  are  to  frame  its 
organic  code,  to  set  the  machinery  of 
the  new  government  in  motion,  and  to 
determine  the  relations  which  are  to 
exist  between  the  new  government  and 
the  United  States. 

This  review,  it  must  be  confessed,  does 
not  present  a  cheerful  outlook  for  the 
friends  and  admirers  of  republican  gov- 
ernment ,  but  for  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States  at  least  it  suggests  a  solace.  It 
is  a  consolation  to  us  to  know  that  the 
men  who  laid  the  foundations  of  our 
Government  and  have  thus  far  con- 
ducted its  affairs  have  appreciated  the 
value  of  peace  and  the  superior  merits 
of  the  ballot  over  the  bayonet  ;  that  ew 
had  a  Washington,  not  a  Bolivar  nor  an 
Iturbide,  to  put  the  Government  in  mo- 
tion, and  that  the  Constitution  has  been 
held  as  too  sacred  an  instrument  to  be 
made  the  sport  of  ambitious  rivals  for 
the  presidency. 


MEXICO   OF    TODAY* 

BY  SENOR   DR.  DON  JUAN  N.  NAVARRO,  CONSUL-GENERAL  OF 
MEXICO  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 


A  GLANCE  at  our  factories  shows 
that  our  people  manufacture 
acids,  chemicals,  candles,  ex- 
cellent beer  and  ale,  carpets,  furniture, 
and  carriages  that  have  received  pre- 
miums at  some  of  the  Paris  expositions, 
cordage,  glassware,  hats,  matches,  paper 
of  every  description,  sugar,  tobacco,  and 
many  other  articles,  the  production  of 
which  increases  every  day  in  quantity 
and  quality.  In  the  last  few  years  the 
textile  industry  of  Mexico  has  pro- 
gressed at  a  surprising  rate,  and  some 
of  the  manufactories  deserve  special 
mention.  Rio  Blanco  is  a  manufactory 
situated  near  Orizaba.  I  personally  vis- 
ited this  manufactory  a  few  months  ago 
and  found  that  it  produces  eighty  differ- 
ent classes  of  linen  and  cotton  goods, 
has  a  colossal  and  tasteful  building,  and 
maintains  in  incessant  work  more  than 
3,000  workmen,  who  make  40,000  pieces 
per  week.  I  have  in  my  office,  in  New 
York,  a  complete  set  of  samples  of  all 
the  linen  and  cotton  goods  from  this 
manufactory,  and  all,  especially  the 
prints,  in  the  perfection  of  the  work 
and  in  the  beauty  and  taste  of  colors 
and  designs,  excite  the  admiration  of 
all  who  examine  them. 

I  have  not  at  hand  the  statistics  giv- 
ing the  actual  number  of  cotton  manu- 
factories, but  I  calculate  that  there  must 
be  approximately  1 50,  and  that  they  last 
year  produced  more  than  ten  millions  of 
pieces  of  white  and  printed  goods  and 
nearly  two  millions  of  yarn.  The  sales 
declared  for  taxes  for  the  years  1 898  and 
1899  are  more  than  $29,700,000.  An- 
other of  the  manufactories  near  the  city 
of  Orizaba  makes  bags  for  flour,  grain, 
salt,  etc.  The  raw  material  is  jute, 


a  fiber  originally  imported  from 
India,  which  has  been  planted  in  Mex- 
ico and  in  all  probability  will  yield  a 
good  harvest.  This  establishment  makes 
7,000  bags  per  day  and  800  meters  of 
carpets  and  rugs  of  the  same  material. 
The  motive  power  in  these  factories  is 
electricity  derived  from  the  falls  of  the 
Rio  Blanco. 

The  wool  manufactories,  though  not 
so  many,  are  remarkable  for  the  excel- 
lence of  their  products,  and  are  not  often 
excelled  by  the  best  products  of  other 
countries.  The  number  of  tobacco  man- 
ufactories is  very  considerable,  and  the 
fame  of  the  excellence  of  the  material 
and  elaboration  is  spreading  day  by  day 
in  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Another 
manufactory  worth}'  of  mention  is  the 
one  in  Merida  for  cordage.  The  capital 
invested  in  mounting  it  was  $600,000, 
and  up  to  September  of  last  year  there 
were  exported  to  this  country  by  way 
of  the  port  of  Progreso  more  than  two 
millions  of  kilos  of  the  henequen  cordage 
there  manufactured. 

Our  government  has  promised  certain 
privileges  for  the  introduction  of  new 
industries  into  the  country,  and  the 
department  for  correspondence  has  re- 
ceived 114  applications. 

I  have  always  believed  that  Mexico 
is  destined  to  be  not  only  an  agricultural 
but  an  industrial  country,  as  it  produces 
a  great  number  of  vegetable  raw  mate- 
rials and  possesses  an  incomparable 
quantity  of  every  known  metal,  and  has 
living  in  cities  a  good  part  of  its  popu- 
lation who  have  a  decided  inclination 
and  a  remarkable  ability  for  mechanical 
labor.  The  facts  of  her  development 
are  confirming  these  views. 


*  Continued  from  the  April  number. 


MEXICO   OF   TODAY 


177 


The  scientific  boards  and  establish- 
ments of  the  government  render  good 
sen-ices  to  science  in  general  and  par- 
ticularly to  our  country.  There  is  a 
geodesical  board  that,  besides  other 
scientific  occupations,  is  measuring  the 
part  of  the  arc  of  the  meridian  corre- 
sponding to  Mexico. 

La  Comision  Geografica  Exploradora 
(the  geographical  exploring  board),  in 
order  to  make  a  correct  map  of  the  re- 
public on  a  large  scale,  is  now  working 
in  the  States  of  Nuevo  Leon,  Vera  Cruz, 
and  Tamaulipas.  The  topographical 
surveys  measure  an  area  of  424,148 
square  kilometers,  the  itineraries  142,- 
799  lineal  kilometers,  and  the  number 
of  positions  astronomically  determined 
is  424.  The  learned  members  of  this 
Society  can  appreciate  properly  the  time 
and  scientific  labor  represented  by  these 
operations. 

Our  astronomical  observatory  in  Ta- 
cubaya,  Federal  District,  is  in  constant 
communication  with  similar  institutions 
in  the  civilized  world,  and  our  directors 
have  visited  them  repeatedly  and  been 
present  at  the  astronomical  congresses 
of  all  nations.  It  has  also  the  honor 
of  taking  part  in  the  formation  of  a  pho- 
tographic zone  of  the  celestial  map  that 
is  to  be  executed  by  international  con- 
vention. 

Speaking  of  this  science,  it  is  worth 
mentioning  that  Mexico,  since  colonial 
times,  has  always  had  remarkable  astron- 
omers, and  in  the  seventeenth  century 
the  illustrious  Don  Carlos  de  Siguenza 
y  Gongora,  of  European  renown,  was 
appointed  by  Charles  II  of  Spain  his 
royal  cosmographer.  In  our  times  we 
had  Diaz  Covarrubias,  and  in  fact  Mex- 
ico, since  the  sixteenth  century,  has 
taken  a  prominent  part  in  all  astronom- 
ical observations,  and  was  one  of  the 
many  countries  to  observe  the  transit  of 
Venus  through  the  disc  of  the  sun  more 
than  i oo  years  ago. 

There  are  also  meteorological  obser- 
vatories in  connection  with  those  of  the 


United  States,  and  a  geological  insti- 
tute, one  of  whose  works,  the  geolog- 
ical cut  from  Acapulco  to  Vera  Cruz, 
figured  very  advantageously  in  the  last 
Paris  Exposition,  and  many  other  scien- 
tific institutions  supported  by  public 
funds  or  by  private  enterprise. 

To  give  some  idea  of  our  means  of 
communication  and  public  works,  I  shall 
mention  some  facts  about  our  railroads, 
telegraphs,  telephones,  and  postal  sen- 
ice,  and  of  some  of  the  great  works  in 
the  Capital  and  states. 

Besides  many  hundreds  of  miles  of 
railways  in  active  construction,  we  have 
in  actual  operation  14,573  kilometers, 
or  9,055.22  English  miles.  In  the  last 
four  years  3,104  kilometers  of  roads 
were  finished. 

Mexico  being  a  mountainous  country, 
the  cost  of  these  roads  in  many  cases 
was  enormous  ;  but  we  can  boast  of 
having  some  of  the  most  daring  and 
magnificent  works  of  engineering  and 
of  the  most  picturesque  views  in  the 
world.  One  of  the  two  railroads  con- 
necting the  capital  with  the  port  of 
Vera  Cruz  has  a  section  literally  above 
the  clouds,  and,  according  to  the  opinion 
of  foreigners  visiting  the  country,  the 
trip  of  any  tourist  would  be  amply  re- 
paid by  only  traveling  on  that  magnifi- 
cent railroad,  so  solidly  and  skillfully 
built  and  cautiously  run  that  an  acci- 
dent of  a  serious  nature  has  never  hap- 
pened in  more  than  28  years  of  continual 
operation.  For  construction  and  splen- 
did scenery,  the  railroads  running  from 
Morelia  to  Uruapan,  in  the  state  of 
Michoacan,  and  from  Puebla  to  Oaxaca, 
connecting  the  two  states  of  said  names, 
can  be  especially  recommended. 

The  number  of  passengers  increases 
at  an  enormous  rate  year  by  year.  In 
1893,  22» 78 1,343  passengers  were  car- 
ried on  Mexican  railways  ;  in  1 900  this 
number  had  nearly  doubled,  exceeding 
40,000,000.  Of  merchandise,  3,798,360 
tons  were  carried  in  1893,  and  in  1900 
nearly  8,000,000  tons. 


178         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


The  development  of  our  telegraphs 
has  kept  pace  with  the  railroads,  and 
today  there  is  not  a  place  of  any  impor- 
tance that  is  not  connected  telegraphic- 
ally with  the  rest  of  the  republic. 

Our  telegraphic  lines  are  divided  into 
four  different  branches — federal  lines, 
state  lines,  private-  company  lines,  and 
railroad  lines — and  the  federal  lines  last 
November  had  an  extension  of  45,740 
kilometers,  or  28,421  English  miles. 
President  Diaz  in  his  last  report  men- 
tions only  the  federal  lines,  but,  accord- 
ing to  the  statistical  annuary ,  of  the  state 
lines  there  were,  on  December  i,  1898, 
8,659.4  kilometers;  of  lines  belonging  to 
private  companies,  3,690.240  kilome- 
ters, and  of  railroad  lines.  11,198.195 
kilometers.  Adding  these  lines  to  the 
45,740  kilometers  of  federal  wire  and  we 
have  a  total  of  69,287.881  kilometers,  or 
about  43,053  miles. 

The  extension  of  telephone  lines  in 
December,  1898,  was  28, 433  kilometers, 
but  in  the  last  two  years  many  more 
lines  have  been  constructed,  and  we  can 
estimate  that  there  are  now  30,000  kilo- 
meters, equivalent  to  about  18,641  En- 
glish miles.  The  number  of  messages 
transmitted  by  federal  telegraph  only 
during  the  year  i892-'93were  1,083,359, 
and  during  the  last  year,  1899-1900, 
this  number  had  more  than  doubled. 

The  federal  offices  in  the  capital  and 
other  principal  ones  are  open  day  and 
night,  and  the  night  service  has  been 
so  well  patronized  by  the  public  that  it 
covered  its  expenses  almost  immediately 
after  being  established. 

Our  telegraph  lines  are  connected  at 
different  points  with  those  of  the  United 
States  and  by  two  submarine  cables — 
one  from  Galveston  to  Tampico  and  the 
other  from  Tampico  to  Vera  Cruz. 
Through  the  United  States  we  are  in 
communication  with  any  part  of  Europe, 
while  the  United  States,  through  our 
telegraph  lines  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean  and  a  cable  from  Salina 
Cruz  to  Libertad,  communicates  with 


the  greater  part  of  South  America  a- 
far  as  Brazil  and  Chile,  and  by  land 
with  Guatemala  and  the  other  Central 
American  republics.  We  have  one 
telegraph  cable  at  Alvarado  Bar.  and 
three  others  between  Tuxtepec  and 
Cosamaloapam,  another  between  Cham- 
poton  and  Campeche,  and  one  between 
San  Juan  Bautista  and  Nopalapam. 

Our  government  has  established  a 
school  of  telegraphy  where  girls  receive 
gratuitous  instruction. 

Our  postal  system  is  continually 
studied  and  improved,  and  the  results 
obtained  are  of  the  most  gratifying 
order.  The  number  of  offices  in  1900 
was  1,972,  including  96  on  railroad 
cars. 

The  public  works  completed  and  those 
in  the  course  of  construction  are  too 
numerous  to  mention.  Two,  however, 
the  drainage  canal  of  the  valley  and  city 
of  Mexico  and  the  great  docks  and 
wharves  in  the  port  of  Vera  Cruz,  de- 
serve special  consideration,  because  of 
their  colossal  magnitude  and  importance. 

The  city  of  Mexico  is  situated  in  an 
extensive  and  beautiful  level  valley, 
surrounded  by  lofty  mountains.  There 
is  no  natural  exit  for  the  water  that 
pours  from  the  mountains  or  for  the 
refuse  of  a  large  city.  In  consequence 
the  inhabitants  were  exposed  to  the 
perils  of  floods  which  at  different  times 
in  the  past  became  a  reality.  The  Span- 
ish Government  early  took  the  matter 
in  hand  and  approved  the  project  of  the 
celebrated  engineer,  Enrico  Martine/.. 
He  constructed  the  gigantic  cut  now  in 
existence  and  known  by  the  name  of 
' '  Tajo  de  Nochistongo. ' '  But, although 
that  work  had  averted  the  danger  from 
the  side  of  Cuautitlan,  deviating  the 
course  of  the  river  of  that  name,  it  did 
not  solve  the  whole  problem.  The  so- 
lution as  completed  was  first  proposed 
by  another  Spanish  engineer,  Simon 
Mendez,  whose  plans,  with  some  modi- 
fications, constitute  the  work  now  fin- 
ished. 


MEXICO   OF    TODAY 


179 


The  work  was  undertaken  and  sus- 
pended several  different  times  for  the 
want  of  funds  and  the  uncertainties 
produced  by  revolutions. 

In  the  year  1885  it  was  resumed  in 
earnest,  and  incessantly  and  vigorously 
prosecuted  until  its  completion,  by  Gen- 
eral Diaz,  who,  with  his  usual  activity 
and  energy,  put  it  under  the  direction 
of  a  board  of  distinguished  citizens. 
The  Mexican  engineer,  Dr.  Luis  Espi- 
nosa,  was  the  technical  director,  who 
modified  advantageously  the  original 
plan  and  brought  it  to  a  happy  termina- 
tion with  an  ability,  energy,  and  con- 
stancy that  deserve  the  gratitude  and 
admiration  of  all  his  fellow-citizens. 

The  completed  works  consist  of  a 
canal,  with  a  length  of  30  miles,  and  a 
tunnel  of  more  than  six  miles.  The 
canal  runs  from  the  northeastern  sec- 
tion of  the  city,  called  San  Lazaro,  to 
the  town  of  Zumpango.  There  the 
enormous  mass  of  water  enters  the  tun- 
nel cut  through  the  mountain,  and  on 
the  other  side  disgorges  into  the  ravine 
or  Barranca  de  Tequisquiac,  in  which  it 
is  confined  till  it  reaches  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  The  works  are  laid  out  in 
such  a  way  that  when  the  system  of 
canalization  of  the  streets  of  the  city  is 
finished,  according  to  the  plans  pre- 
sented by  another  distinguished  engi- 
neer, Dr.  Roberto  Gayol,  the  water  of 
the  lakes,  principally  of  Texcoco,  which 
is  the  lowest,  will  be  controlled,  and 
Mexico  will  be  perhaps  the  only  city  in 
the  world  which  will  be  able  to  wash 
its  sewers  every  day.  This  last  work 
is  being  vigorously  pushed,  and  it  is 
expected  will  be  completed  during  the 
last  months  of  the  present  year.  Mex- 
ico has  good  reason  to  be  proud  of  this 
magnificent  work,  which  has  cost  her 
many  millions  of  dollars. 


A  few  words  will  give  some  idea  of 
the  magnitude  and  usefulness  of  the 
public  works  in  the  port  of  Vera  Cruz. 
The  city  of  Vera  Cruz  was  founded  by 
the  Spaniards  for  military  and  not  for 
commercial  purposes.  It  was  planted 
within  the  fire  of  the  guns  of  the  for- 
tress, San  Juan  de  Ulua,  which  they 
had  built  on  a  rock  in  the  bay.  The 
port  was  a  bay,  or  rather  an  open  road- 
stead, where  ships  could  find  no  protec- 
tion in  a  storm.  Often  the  shipmasters 
preferred  to  lift  anchor  and  battle  with 
a  tempest  on  the  high  seas  Today  the 
old  fortress  is  a  part  of  the  city,  and 
can  be  reached  by  carriage,  and  the 
open  roadstead  has  been  converted  into 
a  safe  port,  with  wharves  for  the  largest 
vessels  and  every  convenience  for  the 
landing  of  passengers  and  the  loading 
and  unloading  of  ships. 

In  many  other  ports  on  the  Gulf 
and  the  Pacific  Ocean  improvements 
are  being  constantly  made  In  Tam- 
pico  a  new  wharf  is  nearly  completed 
to  replace  the  one  destroyed  by  fire 
in  1888.  In  San  Juan  Bautista  four 
wharves  have  been  finished.  The  fiscal 
wharf  in  Frontera  is  completed  and  in 
use,  and  also  the  one  in  Progreso.  Very 
important  works  are  in  progress  in  the 
ports  of  Salina  Cruz,  the  Pacific  end  of 
the  Tehuantepec  Inter-Oceanic  Rail- 
road, and  Altata,  a  port  that  is  to  be 
changed  to  Tetuan,  which  offers  a  better 
anchorage  for  vessels. 

In  the  last  four  years  many  light- 
houses have  been  built  on  the  coast 
of  Yucatan,  in  Isla  de  Mujeres,  Cayo 
Norte,  Cabo  Catoche,  Contoy,  Punta 
Molar,  and  Punta  Calarain  and  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  on  Morros  de  Seybaplaya, 
Salina  Cruz,  Santiaguillo,  Isla  de  Areas, 
Zapotitlan,  Cayo  Lobos,  and  Puerto 
Angel. 


(  To  be  concluded  in  the  June  number. ) 


THE  GENERAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ALASKA 

Bv   HENRY  GANNETT,  CHIEF  GEOGRAPHER,  UNITED  STATES 

GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY 


ALASKA,  our  northernmost  pos- 
session, extends  over  more  than 
20  degrees  of  latitude  and  45 
degrees  of  longitude — as  far  as  from 
Florida  to  Maine  and  from  Maine  to 
Utah.*  From  the  main  body  of  the  Ter- 
ritory stretch  two  projections,  one  to  the 
southeast,  comprising  the  Alexander 
Archipelago  and  the  adjacent  mainland, 
the  other  to  the  southwest,  comprising 
the  Alaska  Peninsula  and  the  Aleutian 
Islands. 

The  exact  area  of  Alaska  cannot  at 
present  be  known,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  boundaries  are  as  yet  located  only 
approximately.  The  seacoast,  which 
forms  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
boundary,  has  not  been  accurately 
mapped,  except  in  small  part,  while  the 
land  boundary  on  the  southeast,  which 
separates  our  territory  from  Canada,  has 
not  been  defined,  except  in  the  general 
terms  of  the  treaty  of  cession  from  Rus- 
sia. Various  measurements  have  been 
made,  based  upon  different  maps,  giving 
areas  ranging  from  570,000  to  600,000 
square  miles.  A  careful  recent  meas- 
urement from  the  large  map  published 
by  the  U.S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey 
(scale  i:  1,200,000)  gives  its  area  as 
590,884  square  miles.  Of  this  the  por- 
tion lying  east  of  the  i4ist  meridian, 
popularly  known  as  southeastern  Alas- 
ka, which  is  the  best  known  part  of  the 
Territory,  has  an  area  of  43,710  square 
miles,  of  which  30, 800  square  miles  con- 
sist of  mainland  and  12,910  square  miles 

*It  lies  between  latitudes  51°  and  71°  30', 
extending  5  degrees  within  the  Arctic  Circle, 
and  stretches  from  longitude  130°  to  175°.  The 
great  body  of  the  Territory  lies,  however,  be- 
tween  latitudes  60°  and  71'°  30',  and  between 
longitude  141°  and  168°. 


of  islands,  forming  what  is  known  as 
the  Alexander  Archipelago. 

The  Cordillera  of  North  America 
enters  Alaska  at  its  southeastern  ex- 
tremity and  follows  the  Pacific  coast 
around  to  the  Aleutian  Islands.  Beyond 
this  mountain  system  and  following  its 
general  trend  is  a  broad  depression. 
drained  by  the  Yukon  River  and  its 
tributaries.  North  of  this  basin  is  a 
height  of  land  which  separates  the 
Yukon  Valley  from  the  bleak  shores  of 
the  Arctic  Ocean. 

THE  PACIFIC  COAST  REGION 

This  portion  of  the  Territory  is  moun- 
tainous throughout.  Although  the 
coast  of  the  mainland  and  of  the  islands 
is,  altogether,  several  thousand  miles  in 
length,  yet  for  the  entire  distance  there 
are  very  few  square  miles  of  level 
ground.  The  land  rises  from  the  water 
almost  everywhere  at  steep  angles, wit h- 
out  a  sign  of  beach,  to  altitudes  of  thou- 
sands of  feet.  It  is  a  fiord  coast.  The 
islands  are  separated  from  one  another 
and  from  the  mainland  by  fiords,  deej 
gorges,  whose  bottoms  are  in  some  ca.*- 
thousands  of  feet  belowr  the  surface  of 
the  water.  These  fiords  extend  far  up 
into  the  mainland  and  into  the  islands, 
in  deep,  narrow  U-shaped  inlets. 

The  relief  features  of  this  region,  its 
mountains  and  its  gorges,  partly  filled 
by  the  sea,  are  all  of  glacial  origin,  pre- 
senting everywhere  the  familiar  hand- 
writing of  ice.  Every  canon,  every 
water  passage,  whether  called  strait, 
canal,  or  bay,  is  a  U-shaped  gorge,  and 
its  branches  are  similar  gorges  com- 
monly at  higher  levels — "  hanging  val- 
Ie3's"  they  have  been  called.  Above 


THE    GENERAL   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ALASKA 


181 


the  cliffs  of  the  gorges  the  mountains 
rise  by  gentle  slopes  to  the  base  of  the 
peaks.  The  cross  profile  of  each  gorge 
and  its  surroundings  is  that  of  ice,  not 
of  water  carving.  It  is  the  work  of 
channel  erosion,  not  of  valley  erosion, 
and  the  channels  were  filled  with  ice. 
It  is  a  colossal  exhibition  of  the  eroding 
power  of  water  in  solid  form.  From 
Lynn  Canal,  a  fiord  90  miles  in  length, 
there  have  been  carried  off  and  dumped 
into  the  Pacific  more  than  200  cubic 
miles  of  rock,  and  from  all  the  fiords  of 
southeastern  Alaska  the  amount  re- 
moved may  be  safely  estimated  at  thou- 
sands of  cubic  miles.  The  ice  has  but 
recently  retreated  from  these  gorges,  for 
since  its  retreat  water  has  done  but  little 
work,  although  the  region  is  one  of 
heavy  rainfall  and  extremely  steep 
slopes,  where  aqueous  erosion  is  at  a 
maximum. 

Of  the  great  glaciers  which  occupied 
this  region  a  short  time  ago,  only  trifling 
fragments  remain  in  the  upper  ends  of 
the  gorges,  and  comparatively  few  now 
reach  the  sea.  I  use  the  word  trifling, 
however,  merely  in  relation  to  their  for- 
mer extent,  for  absolutely  these  rem- 
nants are  not  at  all  trifling.  The  ice  cap 
of  Greenland  and  the  glaciers  of  the 
Antarctic  continent  alone  exceed  them  in 
magnitude.  All  the  glaciers  of  Switzer- 
land together  would  form  but  a  few  riv- 
ulets of  ice  on  the  surface  of  the  great 
Muir  Glacier,  and  the  Muir  is  but  one 
of  many  glaciers  of  equal  magnitude. 
Indeed,  on  this  coast  are  scores  of  live 
glaciers,  glaciers  which  reach  the  sea, 
presenting  to  it  fronts  of  ice  or  ice  walls 
rising  from  the  sea  bottom  to  200  or  300 
feet  above  its  surface,  and  several  miles 
in  length,  and  which  drop  bergs,  with 
thundering  sound,  into  the  sea.  Of 
such  glaciers  no  fewer  than  30  were  vis- 
ited by  the  Harriman  Expedition,  and 
many  others  are  known.  Of  dead  gla- 
ciers, or  those  whose  fronts  do  not  reach 
the  sea,  hundreds  are  known. 

The  mountains  increase  in  height  to- 


wrard  the  northwest,  but  not  at  a  uniform 
rate.  They  culminate  near  the  coast  in 
the  Fairweather  Range,  south  of  Yakutat 
Bay,  at  about  16,000  feet,  and  in  the 
St.  Elias  Range,  west  of  Yakutat  Bay, 
at  18,000  feet  or  more.  These  ranges 
are  not  regular  or  continuous.  While 
they  follow  the  general  direction  of  the 
coast,  toward  the  northwest,  they  are 
extremely  broken,  being  cut  through 
on  the  mainland  by  many  fiords  and  by 
streams  flowing  into  the  heads  of  the 
fiords.  The  Stikine,  which  reaches  the 
coast  near  Wrangell,  heads  far  to  the 
eastward,  in  Canada,  and  cuts  across 
the  entire  breadth  of  the  Cordillera  sys- 
tem. The  same  is  true  of  the  Taku 
River,  which,  flowing  through  Taku 
Inlet,  reaches  the  coast  near  Juneau  ; 
and  of  the  Chilkat,  which  flows  into 
one  of  the  heads  of  Lynn  Canal.  Alsek 
River  heads  far  to  the  north,  in  Canada, 
and  cuts  a  gorge  through  the  great  Fair- 
weather  Range.  These  are  the  main 
rivers  of  this  coast,  but  there  are  many 
smaller  ones,  which  head  either  beyond 
the  mountains  to  the  north  and  east,  or 
far  within  them. 

The  coast  line  from  Cross  Sound  north- 
westward to  Prince  William  Sound  is 
comparatively  smooth  and  simple,  con- 
taining no  inlet  of  magnitude,  with  the 
exception  of  Yakutat  Bay.  As  far  as 
Yakutat  Bay  it  is  closely  bordered  by  the 
Fairweather  Range,  which  rises  abruptly 
from  10,000  to  16,000  feet  almost  from 
the  water's  edge,  bearing  on  the  summit 
a  succession  of  peaks  and  covered  with 
glaciers  along  both  slopes.  A  day  long 
to  be  remembered  was  that  on  which 
our  ship  steamed,  between  8  o'clock  in 
the  morning  and  6  in  the  afternoon,  from 
Yakutat  Bay  to  Cross  Sound,  along  the 
entire  front  of  this  range  outlined  against 
a  cloudless  sky. 

Yakutat  Bay  is  a  deep  funnel-shaped 
bay,  penetrating  far  into  the  heart  of 
the  mountain  region.  At  its  apparent 
head  it  turns  sharply  upon  itself  to  the 
south  and  extends  back  nearly  to  the 


8  2         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


sea  in  a  narrow  fiord,  bordered  on  either 
side  by  high  mountain  walls.  This  ex- 
tension, heretofore  named  Disenchant- 
meht  Bay,  has  been  rechristened.  The 
story  of  the  locality  is  as  follows:  More 
than  a  century  ago  Malaspina,  the 
Spanish  navigator,  entered  Yakutat  Bay 
while  in  search  of  the  Northwest  Pas- 
sage. Sailing  on  up  the  bay  and  finding 
that  open  water  extended  far  inland,  he 
for  a  time  thought  that  for  him  had  been 
reserved  the  fame  and  satisfaction  of  dis- 
covering the  long-sought  route  through 
the  North  American  continent.  His 
dream  was  short,  however,  for  on  near- 
ing  the  bend  in  the  bay  he  found  his  way ' 
blocked  by  a  solid  wall  of  ice.  This  ice 
was  the  front  of  the  combined  Hubbard 
and  Turner  glaciers,  which  then  ex- 
tended far  beyond  their  present  limits, 
completely  closing  the  entrance  to  the 
fiord  above,  which  at  that  time  was  prob- 
ably an  open  lake  some  200  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea  and  overflowing 
southward  into  the  Pacific.  In  memory 
of  his  disappointment,  Malaspina  named 
the  upper  part  of  Yakutat  Bay  ' '  Disen- 
chantment Bay." 

Prof.  I.  C.  Russell,  when  exploring 
the  head  of  the  bay  in  1891,  discovered 
the  fiord,  and  in  an  open  boat  traversed 
it  for  its  entire  length.  Instead  of  nam- 
ing it,  he  extended  the  application  of  the 
name  Disenchantment  Bay  to  cover  it. 
We  have  rechristened  it,  in  honor  of  its 
discoverer  and  first  explorer,  Russell 
Fiord.  Our  ship,  the  George  W.  Elder, 
was  the  first  large  vessel  to  go  to  the 
head  of  this  fiord.  We  made  the  passage 
under  the  pilotage  of  a  Yakutat  Indian, 
and  lay  at  anchor  over  night  at  its  head. 

Northwest  of  Yakutat  Bay  for  many 
miles  the  shore  is  covered  by  a  field  of 
i^e,  Malaspina  Glacier,  \vhich  is  in  the 
main  a  stagnant  pool,  wasting  only  under 
the  heat  of  the  summer  sun,  and  sup- 
plied by  ice  streams  from  the  St.  Elias 
Alps,  which  border  it  on  the  north  and 
east.  Farther  to  the  northwest  stretches 
a  low  coast,  rising  into  mountains  a  score 


or  two  of  miles  inland.  Through  these 
mountains  flows  Copper  River,  at  whose 
mouth  is  an  enormous  delta,  built  up  of 
detritus  which  it  brings  down  from  the 
interior. 

Then  comes  Prince  William  Sound, 
a  bay  of  irregular  shape,  with  many 
tentacle-like  fiords  extending  in  various 
directions  into  the  land.  Its  entrance  is 
nearly  closed  by  islands  between  which 
are  several  navigable  passages.  The 
islands  near  the  shores  are  everywhere 
mountainous,  and  on  the  north  shore 
mountains  rise  to  about  10,000  feet,  the 
higher  ones  everywhere  skirted  with 
glaciers,  many  of  which  come  down  into 
the  sea.  Several  of  the  fiords  are  of 
great  length,  reaching  far  inland.  Thus 
Port  Valdez,  up  which  the  Copper  River 
route  to  the  interior  passes,  extends  in- 
land more  than  30  miles,  and  Port  Wells, 
on  the  northwest  of  Prince  William 
Sound,  pushes  40  miles  into  the  inte- 
rior, far  up  among  the  high  mountains, 
and  each  of  its  branches  terminates  in 
a  living  glacier.  Passage  Canal,  too, 
up  which  runs  the  portage  route  to 
Turnagain  Arm  of  Cook  Inlet,  has  a 
length  of  30  miles. 

Prince  William  Sound,  in  the  moun- 
tainous character  of  its  shores,  in  its 
multitude  of  islands  and  fiords,  and  in 
the  almost  total  absence  of  level  land, 
resembles  southeastern  Alaska.  It  was 
until  recently  but  little  known,  all  our 
information  concerning  it  being  derived 
from  the  explorations  of  Vancouver  and 
Malaspina,  made  a  century  or  more  ago. 
Within  the  past  two  years,  however 
(1898  and  1899),  exploring  parties  un- 
der Captain  Abercrombie  and  Captain 
Glenn  have  supplemented  the  work  of 
Vancouver  and  Malaspina,  and  have 
added  materially  to  our  knowledge  of 
the  coast  and  adjacent  lands.  Some 
additional  information  also  was  gained 
by  the  Harriman  Expedition,  especially 
concerning  Columbia  Fiord  and  Glacier, 
and  of  Port  Wells  and  its  glaciers,  in 
the  form  of  sketch  maps  and  photo- 


THE    GENERAL   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ALASKA         183 


graphs  of  these  localities.  The  head 
of  Port  Wells  and  a  large  branch  com- 
ing in  from  the  west  were  explored  and 
mapped.  This  western  branch,  shown 
on  the  sketch  map  as  Harriman  Fiord, 
was  in  all  probability  closed  at  no  very 
remote  time  by  the  front  of  Barry  Gla- 
cier, which  extended  across  the  fiord  to 
the  opposite  shore  ;  indeed,  until  our 
visit,  it  was  still  supposed  to  be  closed. 
In  bringing  our  ship  close  to  the  glacier 
front  to  obtain  photographs  of  it,  our 
party  discovered  the  opening  between  its 
point  and  the  land,  and  as  we  steamed 
through  we  saw  unfolded  before  us 
a  magnificent  vista  of  mountain  and 
glacier. 

4 '  We  were  the  first  that  ever  burst 
Into  that  silent  sea. ' ' 

It  was  sunset  when  we  entered  the 
portals,  and  through  the  long  twilight 
of  the  Arctic  evening  we  passed  up  the 
fiord,  with  mile-high  mountains  and 
great  glaciers  on  either  hand.  A  little 
before  midnight  we  reached  its  head, 
where  it  is  terminated  by  the  front  of 
Harriman  Glacier.  A  surveying  party 
was  landed  there,  and  two  days  were 
spent  in  making  a  reconnoissance  of  the 
fiord  and  its  surroundings.  In  this 
fiord,  in  a  length  of  15  miles,  there  are, 
besides  a  score  of  ' '  dead  ' '  glaciers,  five 
live  glaciers,  four  of  them  of  the  first 
magnitude,  and  all  reaching  the  sea  and 
discharging  bergs  into  it. 

The  general  direction  of  the  coast, 
which  trends  northwest  to  a  point 
beyond  Mount  St.  Elias,  gradually 
swings  to  the  westward,  and  beyond 
Prince  William  Sound  turns  toward  the 
southwest  in  the  Kenai  Peninsula.  Be- 
yond the  end  of  this  are  mountainous 
islands  —  Afognak  (594  square  miles) 
and  Kadiak  (3,642  square  miles),  the 
latter  the  largest  island  in  Alaska  waters. 
These  continue  the  line  of  Kenai  Penin- 
sula to  the  south  west,  and  are  separated 
by  the  waters  of  Cook  Inlet  and  Shelikof 
Strait  from  the  Alaska  Peninsula.  This 


latter  peninsula  bears  the  backbone  of 
the  mountain  system  which  follows  the 
coast,  the  westward  extension  of  the 
Cordillera.  Of  its  structure  little  is 
known,  except  that  here  and  there  are 
upturned  stratified  beds  and  occasional 
volcanoes,  some  extinct,  others  still 
smoking,  as  if  the  internal  fires  were 
banked  but  not  extinguished.  Among 
these  are  Redoubt,  Iliamna,  St.  Augus- 
tine (on  an  island  near  the  coast),  Pavlof , 
and  many  others.  Beyond  the  west  end 
of  the  Alaska  Peninsula  its  general  direc- 
tion is  continued  by  groups  of  islands 
and  islets,  as  if  the  mountain  range  of 
which  it  is  composed  were  sunken  below 
the  sea  and  only  the  summits  of  its  peaks 
protruded  above  the  waves.  These  are 
the  Aleutian  Islands.  Upon  them  also 
are  many  volcanoes,  some  alive,  some 
dormant. 

BERING  SEA 

Just  north  of  the  Aleutian  Islands, 
which  run  in  a  broad  curve,  convex 
southward,  over  ten  degrees  of  longi- 
tude, are  two  islands,  Bogoslof  and  Gre- 
minck.  These  are  very  young,  the  older 
having  come  into  being  104  years  ago, 
the  other  being  but  17  years  of  age. 
Only  half  a  generation  ago  it  rose  from 
the  sea  with  great  fury  and  turmoil  of 
escaping  steam,  and  although  for  17 
years  its  shores  have  been  bathed  in  the 
icy  waters  of  Bering  Sea  and  its  summit 
wrapped  almost  constantly  in  chilling 
fogs,  it  is  still  hot  and  gives  out  steam. 
Its  older  brother  has  long  since  cooled 
and  is  now  the  nesting  place  of  millions 
of  birds  and  the  breeding  ground  of  hun- 
dreds of  sea-lions. 

North  of  these  rocks,  far  in  the  gloom 
of  the  eternal  fogs  of  Bering  Sea,  lie  the 
Seal  Islands,  or  Pribilofs,  St.  George 
and  St.  Paul — little  islands  of  hills  and 
gentle  slopes  of  tundra,  clothed  in  sum- 
mer with  a  rich  mantle  of  grass  and 
flowers.  Still  farther  north,  in  the  midst 
of  this  dreary  sea,  where  the  sun  seldom 


184         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


shines,  are  St.  Matthew  and  Hall  Isl- 
ands, buttressed  by  cliffs,  above  which 
are  undulating  slopes  of  tundra,  grassy 
and  gay  with  flowers,  and  beyond  them 
St.  Lawrence,  a  mountain  island  fringed 
by  a  boggy  plain. 

The  Alaska  coast  of  Bering  Sea  is 
mainly  low  and  marshy,  rising  very 
gently  inland,  and  consisting  almost  en- 
tirely of  tundra.  The  Yukon,  the  great 
river  of  Alaska  and  one  of  the  great 
rivers  of  the  earth,  ends  its  long  journey 
seaward  in  an  enormous  delta,  which 
covers  thousands  of  square  miles. 
Through  this  great  area  of  low  level 
land  its  distributaries  meander  slug- 
gishly to  the  sea,  bringing  from  the  in- 
terior mud  and  gold  and  driftwood,  to 
be  spread  along  the  coast  by  the  cur- 
rents. 

Such  is  the  Alaska  coast :  where  it 
faces  the  Pacific,  bold,  rugged,  and 
bordered  throughout  by  a  mountain  bar- 
rier ;  where  it  faces  Bering  Sea,  low, 
tundra-clothed,  and  affording  easy  ac- 
cess to  the  interior  by  means  of  its  great 


river. 


THE  INTERIOR 


Of  the  interior  of  Alaska  we  know 
much  less  than  of  its  borders.  Not  only 
did  the  early  explorers  confine  their  at- 
tention almost  entirely  to  its  coasts,  but 
the  inhabitants,  both  natives  and  Euro- 
peans, owing  to  the  difficulties  of  land 
travel  in  the  interior,  have  always  lived 
upon  the  coast  or  upon  the  larger 
streams,  and  have  made  their  journeys 
by  the  water  routes.  It  is  only  in  re- 
cent years  that  definite  geographic  in- 
formation concerning  the  interior  has 
been  obtained,  and  at  present,  through 
the  extensive  explorations  carried  on  by 
the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  and  officers 
of  the  U.  S.  Army,  such  information  is 
rapidly  increasing. 

The  primary  slope  of  the  land  is 
toward  the  west  and  southwest,  as  is 
indicated  by  the  courses  of  the  great 
rivers  of  the  Territory — the  Yukon, 


Kuskokwim,  Koyukuk,  and  others. 
The  trend  of  the  mountain  uplift 
the  Pacific  side,  swings  around  from 
northwest  to  southwest,  thus  following 
the  general  course  of  the  coast.  Of  the 
great  features  of  the  Territory  this  chain 
forms  the  southernmost,  and  is  the  key 
to  the  structure  of  the  country.  Suc- 
ceeding it  on  the  north  is  the  great 
valley  of  the  Yukon,  which  is  separated 
from  the  Arctic  coast  by  ranges  of  low 
mountains  and  broken  country,  proba- 
bly nowhere  exceeding  5,000  or  6,000 
feet  in  altitude. 

The  Cordillera  attains  its  greatest 
breadth  and  altitude  between  longitud 
142°  and  152°.  Here  are  many  sum- 
mits reputed  to  exceed  12,000  feet  in 
height,  with  Mount  Wrangell,  said  to 
be  17,500  feet,  and  Mount  McKinley,* 
so  far  as  known,  the  highest  summit  on 
the  North  American  continent,  rising  to 
an  altitude  of  20,464  feet.  In  this  por- 
tion of  the  mountain  system  are  the 
sources  of  many  large  rivers,  the  White, 
a  branch  of  the  Yukon;  the  Copper,  well 
named  on  account  of  the  enormous  d 
posits  of  copper  ore  found  near  it  ;  tin 
Sushitna,  flowing  into  the  head  of  Cook 
Inlet ;  the  Tanana,  another  branch  of 
the  Yukon,  and  finally  the  Kuskokwim , 
which,  heading  in  the  western  part  of 
this  group,  flows  southwest  into  Bering 
Sea.  In  the  region  north  of  the  Yukon 
Valley  originate  many  streams,  includ- 
ing several  large  branches  of  the  Yukon, 
as  the  Porcupine  and  Koyukuk  :  other 
streams,  as  the  Noatak  and  Kowak,  flow 
into  Kotzebue  Sound,  and  still  others, 
as  the  Colville,  flow  northward  into  the 
Arctic  Ocean. 

The  country  is  intersected  by  a  net- 
work of  rivers  and  lakes  navigable  for 
canoes,  although  navigation  is  much  in- 
terrupted by  rapids  and  falls.  The  great 
highway  of  the  Territory  is  the  Yukon 
River,  which,  heading  in  British  Co- 
lumbia, flows  northwestward  through 
a  succession  of  lakes  and  rapids,  and 

*  Longitude  149°,  latitude  63°. 


Photo  by   C.    Hart  Mori-lam 

End  of  Columbia  Glacier,  College  Fiord 


i  86         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


crosses  the  boundary  line  in  latitude  65°. 
It  reaches  its  most  northern  point  just 
on  the  Arctic  Circle,  in  longitude  146°, 
and  thence  flows  south  westward  to  its 
mouth.  It  is  navigable  for  small  steam- 
ers throughout  its  course  in  Alaska,  and 
when  not  closed  by  ice — that  is,  from 
June  to  October — carries  much  traffic, 
since  nearly  all  of  the  food,  supplies, 
machinery,  and  other  goods  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  mines  in  Alaska  and  the 
Klondike  come  by  this  route. 

North  of  the  Yukon  most  of  the  land 
is  permanently  frozen  at  a  depth,  thaw- 
ing only  near  the  surface  in  summer. 
Whenever  the  slopes  are  at  all  gentle 
such  ground  is  marshy,  forming  the 
well-known  tundra  of  the  Arctic  regions. 

CLIMATE 

We  must  speak  of  the  climates  rather 
than  the  climate  of  Alaska,  for  different 


parts  of  the  Territory  differ  in  cliinak 
not  in  degree  only,  but  in  kind.  The 
Pacific  coast  has  a  climate  of  its  own, 
the  coast  of  Bering  Sea  has  another,  and 
both  differ  widely  from  that  of  the  in- 
terior. 

The  climate  of  the  Pacific  coast,  from 
Portland  Canal  in  the  extreme  southeast 
to  Attu  Island  at  the  west  end  of  the 
Aleutian  chain,  may  be  character! /.ed. 
in  a  word,  as  "  chilly."  Take  the  well- 
known  climate  of  San  Francisco,  with 
its  dampness,  fogs,  and  cold  sea  winds. 
reduce  the  temperature  15  to  iS  decrees 
and  increase  the  dampness  and  fo^  in 
proportion,  and  you  have  a  fair  idea  of 
the  climate  of  the  Alaska  Pacific  coast. 
At  Sitka,  in  latitude  57°,  the  mean  an- 
nual temperature  is  43°  Fahrenheit, 
which  is  about  the  same  as  at  East]x>rt. 
Maine,  12  degrees  farther  south.  The 
extreme  range  of  temperature  on  record 


Photo  by   C.   Hart  Merri 


Amherst  Glacier,  College  Fiord 


THE    GENERAL   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ALASKA         187 


Photo  by   C.   Hart  Merriam 


Jitneau 


at  Sitka  is  from  a  trifle  below  zero  Fah- 
renheit to  90°  above,  and  the  monthly 
mean  temperatures  range  from  31°  to 
56°  only,  illustrating  the  wonderfully 
uniform  temperature  of  the  Pacific  coast. 
At  Kadiak,  16  degrees  farther  west  and 
a  degree  farther  north,  the  mean  tem- 
perature is  2°  lower  and  the  extreme 
range  of  temperature  less.  At  Unalaska, 
3  degrees  south  of  Sitka,  the  mean  tem- 
perature is  only  36°  and  the  range  of 
temperature  is  still  smaller. 

While  the  mean  annual  temperature 
•on  this  coast,  whose  latitude  ranges  from 
54°  to  60°,  does  not  differ  materially 
from  that  of  Eastport,  Maine,  on  the 
Atlantic  coast,  in  latitude  45°,  the  sum- 
mer temperature  is  much  colder  and 
the  winter  temperature  much  warmer. 
The  statement  has  been  made  that  it  is 


no  colder  at  Sitka  than  in  Georgia.  I 
believe  this  to  be  true  in  the  sense  that 
the  minimum  temperature  is  no  lower  ; 
but  it  represents  only  a  part  of  the  facts, 
and  much  the  less  important  part.  It  is 
also  true  that  it  is  no.  warmer  at  Sitka 
than  in  Greenland  or  Labrador — that  is, 
the  maximum  temperature  is  no  greater; 
and  for  most  economic  purposes,  except 
the  making  of  ice,  it  is  warmth,  not 
cold,  that  concerns  us. 

The  annual  rainfall  is  heavy  over  this 
entire  coast.  At  Sitka  it  is  more  than 
double  that  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  105 
inches  a  year  being  the  record,  and  it 
diminishes  but  little  westward.  At  Una- 
laska the  record  is  92  inches.  Rain  falls 
mainly  in  the  autumn  and  winter,  the 
summer  being  comparatively  dry. 

A  description  of  climate  would  be  in- 


John  Mnir 


THE   GENERAL   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ALASKA         189 


complete  if  it  did  not  include  the  amount 
of  sunshine  and  cloudiness,  since  these 
are  important  factors  in  the  growth  of 
plant  life.  At  Sitka  it  is  cloudy  two- 
thirds  of  the  time,  and  nearly  half  of  the 
time  it  is  raining  or  snowing.  At  Kadiak 
the  conditions  are  a  little  better;  at  Una- 
laska  they  are  worse,  for  Unalaska  is 
unrivaled  for  bad  weather.  Only  8  days 
in  the  year  during  several  years  of  rec- 
ord were  entirely  clear  and  only  45 
partly  clear,  the  remaining  312  being 
cloudy,  and  271  of  those  were  rainy  or 
snowy. 

Before  attempting  to  explain  these  pe- 
culiarities of  climate,  it  should  be  stated 
that  the  sea  commonly  produces  two 
modifications  of  temperature.  It  may 
reduce  the  extremes,  making  the  atmos- 
phere cooler  in  summer  and  warmer  in 
winter,  and  it  may  reduce  or  increase 
the  mean  annual  temperature.  The 
Pacific  coast  of  Alaska  is  within  the 
range  of  the  prevailing  westerly  winds  of 
the  northern  hemisphere.  These  winds 
come  off  the  ocean,  bringing  to  the  coast 
the  temperature  of  the  sea.  As  the  sea 
absorbs  heat  slowly,  in  comparison  with 
the  land,  and  parts  with  it  as  slowly, 
the  winds  blowing  off  it  are  cool  in  sum- 
mer and  warm  in  winter.  Moreover, 
since  the  ocean  has  waves,  tides,  and 
currents,  by  which  its  waters  are  moved 
about,  the  cold  water  of  the  north  to- 
ward the  south  and  the  heated  water  of 
the  tropics  toward  the  north,  there  is  a 
tendency  to  establish  an  equilibrium  of 
temperature.  Thus  the  northern  seas 
are  warmer,  on  the  whole — that  is,  the 
mean  annual  temperature  is  higher — 
than  land  in  the  same  latitudes,  and 
through  the  agency  of  the  westerly 
winds  the  coast  shares  in  this  ameliora- 
tion of  temperature.  r  .  / 

These  same  westerly  winds  are  re- 
sponsible for  another  feature  of  the  cli- 
mate, the  heavy  rainfall.  They  come 
from  the  sea  saturated  with  moisture, 
and  if  they  find  the  land  colder  than 
they  are,  as  it  is  in  fall  and  winter,  they 
are  chilled  below  the  point  of  saturation 
and  disgorge  copiously ;  but  if  they  find 


Photo  bv   Curtis 


An  Indian  Totem 


190         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


Eskimo  at  Plover  Bay,  Siberia 


the  land  warm,  as  it  is  in  summer,  they 
carry  their  moisture  inland  and  the 
coast  enjoys  a  comparatively  dry  season. 
This  season  is,  however,  dry  only  in 
comparison  with  the  winter,  the  wet 
season.  The  rainfall  of  the  three  winter 
months  at  Sitka  is  commonly  about  30 
inches,  while  that  of  the  three  summer 
months  is  16  inches,  or  more  than  half 
that  of  winter. 

The  fogs  of  this  coast,  really  the  most 
obtrusive  feature  of  the  climate,  occur 
whenever  the  wind  blows  from  the  sea, 
which  it  does  most  of  the  time,  even 
in  summer.  For  obvious  reasons  they 
seldom  or  never  occur  with  a  land  breeze. 

The  coast  of  Bering  Sea  has  a  climate 
widely  different  from  that  of  the  Pacific 
coast.  The  mean  annual  temperature 
is  much  lower,  even  after  due  allowance 
for  the  difference  in  latitude.  At  St. 
Michael  it  is  26°,  and  at  Port  Clarence, 
in  Bering  Strait,  it  is  20°.  The  range 
of  temperature  is  much  greater.  The 
mean  temperature  of  the  coldest  month 
at  St.  Michael  is  —  2°,  of  the  warmest 
month  54°,  showing  a  range  of  56°. 


Similarly,  at  Port  Clarence  the  coldest 
month  is — 11°,  the  warmest  50°,  a 
range  of  61°.  The  highest  tempera- 
ture on  record  at  St.  Michael  is  75°,  the 
lowest  —  55°,  a  range  of  130°.  Tl 
contrast  with  the  Pacific  coast  is  stil 
greater  in  the  matter  of  rainfall,  which 
at  St.  Michael  is  very  light,  amounting 
to  only  14  inches  annually.  Moreover, 
rain  falls  in  the  warm  rather  than  in  the 
cold  season. 

The  temperature  of  this  coast  is  not 
much  modified  by  the  sea.  Bering  Sea 
is  practically  a  closed  sea,  the  Aleutian 
Islands  forming  a  partial  barrier  against 
the  warmer  waters  of  the  Pacific  ;  con- 
sequently its  waters  retain,  to  a  large 
extent  at  least,  the  temperature  incident 
to  the  latitude.  Its  mean  annual  temper- 
ature is  little  affected  by  outside  influ- 
ences, and  the  greater  part  of  it  is  fro/en 
for  half  the  year.  The  extremes  of  tem- 
perature, however,  are  reduced  by  the 
slow  absorption  and  radiation  of  heat. 
just  as  with  the  Pacific.  As  this  region 
is  north  of  the  territory  of  the  prevail- 
ing westerlies,  the  winds  have  no  preva- 


THE   GENERAL   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ALASKA 


191 


lent  direction,  but  blow  whithersoever 
they  list.  For  the  same  reason  the 
rainfall  is  light,  and  though  the  air 
over  the  sea  is  saturated  with  moisture, 
little  of  it  drifts  over  the  land  to  sup- 
ply rain. 

If  there  is  a  region  more  infested  with 
fogs  than  the  Pacific  coast  of  Alaska  it 
is  Bering  Sea.  Here  fog  is  the  normal 
condition,  and  clear,  bright  weather  the 
rare  exception.  It  is  no  uncommon  ex- 
perience for  vessels  bound  for  the  Pribi- 
lofs  to  miss  the  islands  in  the  fog,  and 
to  spend  days  searching  for  them,  as  for 
needles  in  a  haystack.  They  are  a  small 
target  to  shoot  a  vessel  at  from  Unalaska, 
250  miles  away,  and  once  missed,  are 
easily  lost  in  this  great  foggy  waste. 

The  climate  of  the  great  interior  re- 
gion is  that  common  to  the  interior  of 
all  continents.  The  mean  annual  tem- 
perature is  practically  the  same  as  in  the 
same  latitude  on  the  coast  of  Bering  Sea, 
but  the  range  of  temperature  is  much 
greater.  It  is  warmer  in  summer  and 
colder  in  winter,  since  the  land  heats 
and  cools  much  more  rapidly  than  the 
sea.  At  the  point  where  the  interna- 
tional boundary  crosses  the  Yukon  River 
the  mean  temperature  of  the  coldest 


month  (in  1889)  was  — 17°,  that  of  the 
warmest  month  60°,  a  range  of  77°. 
Contrast  these  figures  with  those  given 
above  for  Sitka,  where  the  correspond- 
ing range  was  only  26°.  Furthermore, 
consider  that  the  mean  temperature  of 
the  warmest  month  on  the  Yukon,  in 
latitude  64°  41',  was  4°  higher  than  at 
Sitka,  over  500  miles  farther  south. 
These  figures  are  instructive  in  pointing 
the  conclusion  that  if  any  part  of  Alaska 
can  become  of  agricultural  importance 
it  is  the  interior  rather  than  the  Pacific 
coast.  But  it  is  doubtful  whether  even 
this  region  will  admit  of  profitable  farm- 
ing. In  connection  with  this  question 
the  experience  of  the  Canadians  is  in- 
structive. On  Peace  River,  in  latitude 
56°,  600  miles  farther  south,  many  and 
persistent  attempts  at  farming  have  been 
made,  but  without  financial  success,  al- 
though it  is  doubtless  true  that  certain 
crops  have  been  matured  there. 

The  extreme  range  of  temperature  in 
the  interior  is  surprising,  even  to  those 
accustomed  to  roast  by  day  and  freeze 
by  night  in  our  western  deserts.  At 
this  same  point  on  the  Yukon,  temper- 
tures  of  — 60°  and  of  87°  have  been 
recorded — a  range  of  147°.  Again  con- 


Eskimo  at  Plover  Bay,  Siberia 


THE    GENERAL   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ALASKA         193 


trast  this  with  Sitka,  where  90°  is  the 
extreme  range  record. 

The  rainfall  in  the  interior  is  light, 
ranging  at  various  places  and  in  differ- 
ent years  from  10  to  25  inches.  With 
the  cold  climate  and  consequent  slight 
evaporation,  it  is  probably  sufficient  in 
the  majority  of  years  for  agricultural 
requirements.  Differing  radically  from 
the  coast  climates,  this  climate  is  bright 
and  sunny.  There  is  little  dull,  cloudy 
weather  and  practically  no  fog.  There 
is  more  sunshine  here  in  a  month  than 
at  Sitka  in  a  year. 

FORESTS 

The  coast,  as  far  to  the  westward  as 
Cook  Inlet,  is  densely  forested  up  to  the 
timber  line,  which  ranges  with  the  lat- 
itude from  3,000  to  2,000  feet  above  sea- 
level.  The  timber  is  mainly,  indeed 
almost  entirely,  Sitka  spruce.  There  is 
some  hemlock  at  higher  levels,  and  in 
the  southern  part  a  little  cedar  also,  but 
these  are  of  little  commercial  impor- 
tance. Red  or  Douglas  fir,  which  forms 
the  bulk  and  principal  value  of  the  for- 
ests of  Washington,  disappears  in  Brit- 
ish Columbia.  The  spruce  is  large  and 
fine,  as  judged  by  eastern  standards,  but 
as  compared  with  the  timber  of  Oregon 
and  Washington,  which  is  the  standard 
on  the  Pacific  coast,  it  is  inferior,  and 
little  use  is  at  present  made  of  it,  most 
of  the  timber  needed  being  brought  from 
Puget  Sound.  On  Kadiak  and  the  ad- 
jacent islands  there  is  little  timber,  and 
farther  west  on  the  Alaska  Peninsula 
and  the  Aleutian  Islands  none  whatever, 
nor  are  there  any  trees  on  the  islands  in 
Bering  Sea.  Why  the  timber  should 
thus  suddenly  disappear  on  the  penin- 
sula and  islands  is  an  open  question. 
The  rainfall  is  ample,  and  the  climate 
little  more  severe  than  at  Sitka  and  less 
severe  than  about  Prince  William  Sound. 
The  suggestion  that  high,  cold  winds 
prevent  tree  growth  is  negatived  by  the 
fact  that  such  winds  occur  all  along  the 


coast,  in  forested  as  well  as  non-forested 
parts.  Moreover,  the  forest-fire  fiend 
has  not  been  here. 

The  interior  of  the  Territory  is  for- 
ested mainly  with  spruce,  as  far  north 
as  the  valley  of  Koyukuk,  and  as  far 
westward  as  the  delta  of  the  Yukon.  In 
this  enormous  region  there  must  be  an 
almost  fabulous  amount  of  coniferous 
timber,  sufficient  to  supply  our  country 
for  half  a  century  in  case  our  other  sup- 
plies become  exhausted. 

POPULATION 

The  population  of  Alaska  in  1900, 
according  to  the  Twelfth  Census,  was 
63,592,  having  nearly  doubled  in  the 
preceding  ten  years.  Of  the  total  in- 
crease, 3r,54O,  about  three-fourths  was 
acquired  by  that  portion  of  the  Territory 
lying  north  of  the  Yukon  River,  and 
only  one-fourth  by  that  portion  south 
of  that  river,  including  southeastern 
Alaska.  Half  of  the  increase  in  north- 
ern Alaska  consisted  of  the  people  of 
Nome,  which  had  a  population  of  12,486, 
by  far  the  largest  aggregation  of  people 
anywrhere  in  the  Territory  ;  the  remain- 
der were  scattered  widely  over  its  great 
area,  but  mainly  in  the  valley  of  the 
Yukon  and  along  the  coast  north  of  the 
mouth  of  that  river. 

In  southern  Alaska  the  population 
increased  almost  everywhere,  but  not 
by  any  means  at  as  rapid  a  rate  as  in 
certain  localities  in  northern  Alaska. 
Skagway  had  a  population  of  3,117; 
Sitka,  1,396;  Juneau,  1,864;  Douglas, 
825  ;  Wrangell,  868,  and  the  Indian  vil- 
lage of  Metlakahtla,  465. 

Of  this  total  population  about  25,000, 
or  a  little  more  than  two-fifths,  were  In- 
dians, Eskimos,  or  mixed  bloods,  the 
remainder  being  whites.  The  increase 
during  the  past  ten  years  probably  con- 
sists entirely  of  whites. 

The  population  is  in  high  degree  a 
floating  one,  with  the  slightest  possible 
attachment  to  localities,  and  subsequent 


i  94         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


censuses   will    doubtless    show   radical 
changes  in  its  location. 

RESOURCES 

The  natural  resources  of  Alaska  are 
enormous.  The  skins  and  furs,  the  fish, 
the  gold,  copper,  and  coal,  and  the  timber 
of  the  Territory  are  in  value  almost  be- 
yond calculation,  and  the  mere  reaping 
of  this  harvest  sown  and  ripened  for  us 
by  nature  will  occupy  an  industrial  army 
for  many  years.  The  wealth  thus  col- 
lected will  add  greatly  to  the  well-being 
and  happiness  of  our  people. 

Some  of  these  natural  resources,  how- 
ever, have  begun  to  suffer  from  the  drain 
to  which  they  have  been  subjected. 
The  gathering  of  furs  and  skins,  which 
has  been  in  progress  since  the  early  Rus- 
sian occupancy  of  the  Territory ,  has  been 
prosecuted  so  actively  that  the  fur  trade 
is  now  of  comparatively  little  conse- 
quence. Blue  foxes  are  now  so  valua- 
ble that  systematic  attempts  are  being 
made  to  breed  them  for  their  skins. 
The  sea  otter  has  become  very  rare,  and 
the  value  of  skins  correspondingly  high. 
The  fur-seals,  on  account  of  pelagic 
sealing,  are  now  reduced  to  a  small  frac- 
tion of  their  former  number,  and  only 
24,000  skins  were  obtained  at  the  seal 
islands  in  1899.  Even  the  great  brown 
bear  has  become  scarce  and  shy,  and 
hides  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  interior, 
away  from  the  seaboard,  where  he  was 
formerly  abundant. 

The  sea-birds,  once  plentiful  all  along 
the  coast,  are  now  driven  to  the  rarely 
visited  parts,  where,  particularly  on  the 
islands  of  Bering  Sea,  they  may  yet  be 
found  by  millions. 

Fish  are  still  abundant,  but  with  sal- 
mon canneries  springing  up  all  along 
the  coast,  it  is  probable  that  the  demand 
will  soon  make  perceptible  inroads  upon 
the  supply.  During  the  year  1 899  these 
canneries  packed  and  shipped  1,100,000 
cases  and  25,000  barrels  of  this  fish. 

The  mineral  resources  of  the  Territorv 


are  yet  in  an  undeveloped  condition,  hut 
unless  all  signs  fail,  the  chief  wealth  t 
be  obtained  from  Alaska  will  be  taken 
from  the  ground.  Coal  is  known  to 
exist  in  many  localities,  but  is  nowhere 
as  yet  mined  on  a  commercial  scale, 
owing  mainly  to  its  inferior  quality ;  the 
coal  in  use  at  present  is  brought  from 
Nanaimo  or  Puget  Sound.  Copper- vein 
deposits  of  great  magnitude  and  rich- 
ness have  been  found,  notably  on  Copper 
River  and  the  shores  of  Prince  William 
Sound,  but  as  yet  none  of  them  have 
been  developed  beyond  the  shipping  of 
a  few  hundred  tons  of  ore  for  testing. 
Gold  deposits,  both  placer  and  vein, 
have  been  found  in  various  places  all 
over  the  Territory.  They  are  so  widely 
distributed  and  so  rich  as  to  lead  to  the 
conclusion  that  with  more  extended  and 
thorough  prospecting,  the  known  aurif- 
erous areas  will  be  vastly  increased  and 
the  yield  of  the  yellow  metal  multiplied 
many  times.  Some  of  the  quartz  mines, 
as  the  Treadwell,  near  Juneau,  have 
been  worked  productively  for  many 
years.  This  mine  alone  has  produced 
about  $10,000,000.  Others  have  re- 
cently become  productive,  and  still 
others,  more  numerous,  are  yet  in  the 
development  stage.  The  mines  near 
Juneau  produced  in  1899  gold  of  the 
value  of  nearly  two  million  dollars.  A 
several  localities  in  southeastern  Alask 
and  on  the  Shumagin  Islands  quar 
mines  have  been  discovered,  but  a 
present  placers  are  far  more  abundant. 
They  have  been  found  on  many  of  the 
tributaries  of  the  Yukon,  especially  on 
those  from  the  south,  the  Sushitna,  the 
Kuskokwim,  and  the  Koyukuk,  and  in 
the  north,  the  Ambler  and  the  Noatak. 
At  several  places  gold  has  been  found 
in  the  beach  sands  on  the  seashore,  and 
last,  but  by  no  means  least,  on  the 
beach  and  the  stream -beds  at  Cape 
Nome  and  Port  Clarence.  These  last 
discoveries  seem  to  be  the  greatest  of 
the  whole  northwest,  rivaling  and  prob- 
ably exceeding  the  great  Klondike  dis- 


Henry  Gannett 


196         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


covery,  tor  many  millions  appear  to  be 
in  sight  awaiting  the  pan  or  rocker  to 
separate  the  golden  sand.  The  harvest 
of  gold  from  Cape  Nome  during  the 
summer  of  1900  was  $6, 000,000  and  the 
total  product  of  the  Territory  from 
placers  in  1899  was  $1,200,000. 

But  after  the  enumeration  of  these 
latent  resources  of  the  Territory  few  are 
left  to  describe.  Alaska  is  not  a  country 
for  agriculture,  nor  for  home-making. 
It  has  paid  us  its  purchase  price  many 
times  over,  and  in  the  future  will  pour 
much  wealth  into  our  laps,  but  it  will 
never  pay,  as  other  accessions  to  our 
territory  have  paid,  in  making  homes 
for  our  people.  At  present  few  people 
go  to  Alaska  to  live  ;  they  go  there 
merely  to  stay  until  they  have  made 
their  stake. 

Farming  as  a  business  is  impossible 
under  the  climatic  conditions  prevalent 
on  the  coast.  It  is  granted  at  once  that 
it  is  possible  to  mature  certain  hardy 
crops  in  favorable  seasons,  but  this  is 
quite  a  different  thing  from  raising  crops 
in  competition  with  California  and  the 
Willamette  Valley,  even  when  the  cost 
of  freight  is  added.  It  must  be  done  at 
a  profit  or  not  at  all.  It  is  of  no  avail 
to  raise  potatoes  when  they  can  be 
brought  from  Portland  and  sold  for  less 
than  the  cost  of  production  in  Alaska. 
If  there  is  any  part  of  the  Territory  in 
which  farming  can  be  successfully  car- 
ried on,  it  is  the  interior,  which  has  a 
much  more  favorable  summer  climate 
than  the  coast  ;  but  even  there  success 
would  be  doubtful.  However,  as  the 
higher  rate  of  freight  to  the  interior 
will  have  the  effect  of  a  protective  tariff 
on  home  products,  it  may  be  possible  to 
raise  grain  and  vegetables  at  a  profit 


under  conditions  which  would  be  pro- 
hibitory on  the  coast. 

SCENERY 

There  is  one  other  asset  of  the  Terri- 
tory not  yet  enumerated — imponderable- 
and  difficult  to  appraise,  yet  one  of  the 
chief  assets  of  Alaska,  if  not  the  great- 
est. This  is  the  scenery.  There  are 
glaciers,  mountains,  and  fiords  else- 
where, but  nowhere  else  on  earth  is 
there  such  abundance  and  magnificence 
of  mountain,  fiord,  and  glacier  scenery. 
For  thousands  of  miles  the  coast  is  a 
continuous  panorama.  For  the  one  Yo- 
semite  of  California  Alaska  has  hun- 
dreds. The  mountains  and  glaciers  of 
the  Cascade  Range  are  duplicated  and  a 
thousand-fold  exceeded  in  Alaska.  The 
Alaska  coast  is  to  become  the  show-place 
of  the  earth,  and  pilgrims,  not  only  from 
the  United  States,  but  from  far  beyond 
the  seas,  will  throng  in  endless  proces- 
sion to  see  it.  Its  grandeur  is  more  val- 
uable than  the  gold  or  the  fish  or  the 
timber,  for  it  will  never  be  exhausted. 
This  value,  measured  by  direct  returns 
in  money  received  from  tourists,  will  be 
enormous ;  measured  by  health  and 
pleasure,  it  will  be  incalculable. 

There  is  one  word  of  advice  and  cau- 
tion to  be  given  those  intending  to  visit 
Alaska  for  pleasure,  for  sight-seeing. 
If  you  are  old,  go  by  all  means  ;  but  if 
you  are  young,  stay  away  until  yoi 
grow  older.  The  scenery  of  Alaska  i> 
so  much  grander  than  anything  else  of 
the  kind  in  the  world  that,  once  behelc 
all  other  scenery  becomes  flat  and  in- 
sipid. It  is  not  well  to  dull  one's  ca- 
pacity for  such  enjoyment  by  seeing  the 
finest  first. 


GEORGE   M.   DAWSON 


IN  the  death  of  Dr.  George  M.  Daw- 
son  the  Dominion  of  Canada  has 
sustained  a  great  loss  in  the  do- 
mains of    geographic    science   and   of 
affairs,    for  Dr.   Dawson  was  not  only 
one  of  her  leading  scientific  men,  but 
took   an   active    part   in   her    political 
matters. 

Dawson  was  born  at    Pictou,   Nova 
Scotia,  in   1849,   his  father   being   the 


George  M.  Dawson 

celebrated  geologist,  Sir  William  Daw- 
son.  After  a  thorough  training  at  Mc- 
Gill  University  and  at  the  Royal  School 
of  Mines  of  London,  he  commenced  his 
long  career  of  geographic  and  geologic 
explorations  as  geologist  and  botanist 
on  the  Northwest  Boundary  Commis- 


sion in  1873.  Two  years  later  he  joined 
the  Geological  Survey  of  Canada,  and 
for  nine  years  was  engaged  in  the  ex- 
ploration of  British  Columbia,  the  Yu- 
kon Valley,  and  the  high  plains  of  the 
northwest.  While  his  work  was  pri- 
marily geological,  still  we  owe  to  him, 
more  than  to  any  other  explorer,  our 
present  knowledge  of  the  northwestern 
part  of  North  America.  In  1883  he  was 
appointed  assistant  director  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey,  and  in  1895  became  its 
director,  which  position  he  held  until 
his  death,  on  March  2,  1901. 

During  his  quarter  century  of  active 
work  many  duties  were  imposed  upon 
Mr.  Dawson  and  many  were  the  honors 
he  received.  In  1891  and  1 892  he  served 
on  the  Bering  Sea  Commission,  and  for 
his  services  received  the  order  of  Com- 
panion of  St.  Michael  and  St.  George. 
In  1891  he  received  from  the  Royal 
Society  of  England,  of  which  he  was  a 
fellow,  the  Bigsby  medal  for  his  re- 
searches in  geology,  and  degrees  were 
conferred  upon  him  by  Queens  College 
and  McGill  University.  In  1893  he 
was  elected  President  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  Canada. 

Dr.  Dawson's  work  was  mainly  that 
of  an  explorer,  and  for  that  he  had,  in 
spite  of  his  physical  defect,  wonderful 
ability  and  fitness.  To  draw  broad  and 
accurate  generalizations  from  the  slight 
data  obtained  by  the  explorer  requires 
close  observation ,  great  breadth  of  vision , 
and  high  reasoning  powers,  and  in  the 
selection  of  Dawson  for  this  work  the 
Canadian  authorities  made  no  mistake. 
He  has  laid  down  with  great  accuracy 
the  leading  geographic  and  geologic 
features  of  the  Canadian  Northwest, 
and  thus  constructed  a  skeleton  on 
which  future  work  will  supply  the 
details. 

H.  G. 


George  Davidson 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


ALASKA 

THE  narrative  volume  of  the  famous 
Harriman  Alaska  expedition  of 
two  summers  ago  will  appear  during  the 
present  month.  Through  the  courtesy 
of  Dr.  C.  Hart  Merriam,  editor  of  the  vol- 
ume and  of  the  Harriman  publications, 
the  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 
is  able  to  present  in  this  number  one 
chapter  from  this  remarkable  work — The 
General  Geography  of  Alaska,  by  Mr. 
Henry  Gannett. 

So  rapid  has  been  the  exploration  of 
this  vast  territory  during  the  past  five 
years  that  few  realize  the  extent  of  pres- 
ent knowledge  of  the  country.  Mr.  Gan- 
nett, in  his  paper,  gives  the  most  com- 
prehensive statement  of  the  general 
geographic  features  as  developed  by 
recent  exploration  that  has  yet  been 
published. 

The  narrative  of  the  Harriman  expe- 
dition is  the  most  trustworthy  and  at 
the  same  time  popular  work  on  Alaska 
which  has  ever  been  offered  to  the  pub- 
lic. Mr.  John  Burroughs  opens  with  the 
story  of  the  two  months'  travel  of  the 
Harriman  party.  Mr.  John  Muir  fol- 
lows with  a  chapter  on  the  Glaciers. 
Then  Mr.  George  Bird  Grinnell  de- 
scribes the  Natives  of  the  Alaskan  Con- 
tinent— the  Indians  and  Eskimo.  Dr. 
Wm.  H.  Dall  gives  the  History  of  the 
Discovery  and  Exploration  of  Alaska. 
Mr.  Charles  A.  Keeler  has  a  chapter  on 
the  Birds  of  Alaska,  Mr.  B.  E.  Fernow 
on  the  Forests,  and  then  follows  Mr. 
Gannett' s  article  on  the  General  Geog- 
raphy of  Alaska.  Dr.  Merriam  con- 
tributes the  concluding  chapter  on  the 
Volcanoes  of  the  Aleutian  Archipelago. 
The  bird  pictures  by  Mr.  L,ouis  Fuertes, 
the  plant  pictures  by  Mr.  Walpole,  and 
the  fiord  scenes  by  Mr.  Dellenbaugh 
form  a  notable  feature  of  the  volume. 
Twenty  colored  plates,  over  100  full- 


page  photogravures,  and  200  insets 
illustrate  this  splendid  work.  Messrs. 
Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.,  of  New  York, 
are  the  publishers  for  Mr.  Harriman. 

ANDORRA  AND  SAN  MARINO 

THE  two  states  which  look  strang- 
est upon  the  map  of  Europe  are 
the  tiny  Republics  of  Andorra,  in  the 
eastern  Pyrenees,  and  of  San  Marino,  in 
northeastern  Italy.  Each  owed  its  orig- 
inal independence  to  its  strong  natural 
position ;  then  for  centuries  the  shrewd- 
ness of  its  inhabitants  knew  how  to  play 
off  one  enemy  against  another.  In  mod- 
ern times  its  neighbors  have  seemed  to 
feel  a  sort  of  chivalric  sentiment  for  it 
because  it  has  taken  care  of  itself  so 
long. 

The  Republic  of  Andorra  has  existed 
since  the  eighth  century.  When  the 
Moslems  invaded  France  from  Spain  in 
the  eighth  century  that  little  territory 
in  the  mountains  was  not  conquered  by 
them  and  has  remained  independent  ever 
since.  It  now  enjoys  the  joint  protec- 
tion of  France  and  of  the  Spanish  Bishop 
of  Urgel.  Its  extent  is  less  than  175 
square  miles.  Its  hardly  more  than 
6,000  inhabitants  are  almost  all  miners 
and  farmers.  It  is  governed  by  a  rep- 
resentative council  of  24  persons,  who 
are  chosen  by  the  heads  of  families. 

The  Republic  of  San  Marino,  though 
having  a  population  of  about  10,000,  is 
only  one-fifth  as  large  in  area,  but  is 
still  more  ancient.  In  fact,  it  is  the 
smallest  and  the  oldest  independent  re- 
public on  the.  globe.  It  is  governed  by 
a  Great  Council  of  60  members  and  a 
Minor  Council  of  1 2  members.  It  has 
an  army  of  938  men,  and  spends  about 
$10,000  annually  on  internal  improve- 
ments. On  June  28,  1897,  San  Marino 
concluded  a  formal  treaty  of  friendship 
with  Italy. 


2OO 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

THE  following  decisions  were  made 
by  the  U.  S.  Board  on  Geographic 
Names,  April  3,  1901: 

Aowa;  creek,  Dixon  County,  Nebraska 
(not  Aoway  nor  Ayoway). 

Apple;  group  of  islands  in  northern 
part  of  Sitka  Sound,  southeastern 
Alaska  (not  labloshni,  Middle,  nor 
Sredni). 

Basket;  bay  indenting  the  southeastern 
shore  of  Chichagof  Island,  south- 
eastern Alaska  (not  Kakagin  nor 
Kook). 

Bendel;  island  between  Big  Koniuji  and 
Nagai  Islands,  Shumagin  group, 
Alaska  (not  Morse). 

Boisd'Arc;  creek,  Ellis  County,  Texas. 

Bois  d'Arc;  creeks  (two),  Choctaw  Na- 
tion, Indian  Territory. 

Bois  d'Arc;  post-office,  Greene  County, 
Missouri. 

Bois  d'Arc;  river  in  northern  Texas. 

Bois  d'Arc;  township,  Montgomery 
County,  Illinois. 

Broad;  island  near  the  junction  of  Hoo- 
niah  Sound  and  Peril  Strait,  south- 
eastern Alaska  (not  Crosswise  nor 
Poperetchni ) . 

Buncombe;  creek,  Chickasaw  Nation, 
Indian  Territory  (not  Boncombe). 

Cacaway;  island  and  point,  Laugford 
Bay,  Kent  County,  Maryland  (not 
Cacawa). 

Camp  Coogan;  bay  in  eastern  part  of 
Sitka  Sound,  southeastern  Alaska 
(not  Camp  Cogan,  Camp  Kogan, 
Kadiak,  nor  Nachlezmia). 

Cliffs ;  point,  Chester  River,  Kent  County, 
Maryland  (not  Cliff  City,  Cliff's, 
nor  Starts). 

Comet;  peak,  Pinal  County,  Arizona 
(not  Camels  nor  Comets). 

Eyak;  lake  and  native  village  at  west- 
ern edge  of  the  Copper  River  delta, 
Alaska  (not  Eyack,  Eyuk,  Ighiak, 
Ikhiak,  nor  Odiak). 

Fryingpan;  cove,  Eastern  Neck  Island, 
Kent  County,  Maryland  (not  Boxes 
nor  Frying  Pan). 


Glenhaven;  post-office,  railroad  station 
and  township,  Grant  County,  \Vis- 
cousin  (not  Glen  Haven). 

Hauani;  creek,  Chickasaw  Nation,  In- 
dian Territory  (not  Haiyona  nor 
Hiayona). 

Hound  ;  island  in  northern  part  of 
Keku  Strait,  southeastern  Alaska 
(not  Round). 

Inner;  point  on  the  southeastern  si  i  <>iv 
of  Kruzof  Island,  Sitka  Sound, 
southeastern  Alaska  (not  Rocky 
nor  Second). 

Koip  ;  peak  and  ridge  on  boundary  be- 
tween Mono  and  Tuolumne  Coun- 
ties, California  (not  Ko-it). 

Leechville ;  post-office  and  village,  Beau- 
fort County,  North  Carolina  not 
L,eachville). 

Iveevining ;  canon,  creek,  and  peak, 
Mono  County,  California  (not  L,e- 
vining  nor  Vining). 

Luppatatong  ;  creek  in  Keyport,  Mon- 
mouth  County,  New  Jersey  ( not 
IvUpatatong,  Lupatcong,  nor  Lup- 
patcong). 

North  Gabouri  ;  creek,  Ste.  Genevk-ve 
County,  Missouri  (not  North  Gabor 
nor  North  Gabori). 

Oraibi  ;  post-office  and  village,  Navajo 
County,  Arizona  (not  Oraiba). 

Piute;  peakandpost-office,  Kern  County, 
California  (not  Pah-ute,  Pahute,nor 
Paiute). 

Rockhall  ;  district  No.  5,  Kent  County, 
Maryland  (not  Edesville). 

Shoshone  ;  *  river,  tributary  to  the  Big 
Horn  River,  Big  Horn  County, 
Wyoming  (not  Stinking  Water). 

*The  legislature  of  the  State  of  Wyoming 
passed  an  act,  which  was  approved  February 
14,  1901,  as  follows  : 

"Be  it  enacted  by  the  legislature  of  the  State 
of  Wyoming  : 

"SECTION  i.  That  the  name  of  the  stream 
of  water  known  on  the  map  of  the  I'niud 
States  as  the  Stinking  Water  River,  situated  in 
Big  Horn  County,  Wyoming,  and  emptying 
into  the  Big  Horn  River,  is  hereby  changed  to 
the  Shoshone  River,  and  shall  hereafter  be 
designated  and  known  as  such. 

"  SEC.  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  and  be  in 
force  from  and  after  its  passage. ' ' 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


201 


:raggy ;  isletin  Salisbury  Sound,  south- 
eastern Alaska  (not  Samoilof). 

Shoals  ;  point,  the  southeastern  point  of 
Kruzof  Island,  Sitka  Sound,  south- 
eastern Alaska  (not  First,  Low, 
Nizmennia,  Otmeloi,  Outer  Point 
of  Shoals,  nor  White's). 

Smoke;  creek  south  of  Buffalo,  Erie 
County,  Pa.  (not  Smokes). 

South  Gabouri;  creek,  Ste.  Genevieve 
County,  Missouri  (not  South  Fork 
Gabor  nor  South  Gabon). 

Turner;  island  between  Big  Koniuji  and 
Nagai  Islands,  Shumagin  group, 
Alaska  (not  Stiernfeld). 

Wapsipinicon;  river  in  eastern  Iowa 
(not  Wabes-pinicon  Wapsie  nor 
Wapsiepinnecon ) . 

West  Point;  city,  militia  district,  and 
post-office,  Troup  County,  Georgia 
(not  Westpoint). 

West  Point;  district,  post-office,  and 
town,  King  William  County,  Vir- 
ginia (not  Westpoint). 

Wosnesenski;  island  off  south  shore  of 
Alaska  Peninsula  and  west  of  Unga 
Island,  Shumagin  group,  Alaska 
(not  Crested,  Peregrebnoi,  Unat- 
kuyuk,  Vozoychenski,  Vossnesen- 
sky,  nor  Wossnessenski). 

Yucaipe;  creek  and  valley,  San  Ber- 
nardino County,  California  (not 
Yucaipa). 

JERMANY  IN  CENTRAL  AMERICA 

THE  rapid  increase  of  German  com- 
mercial interests  in  Central  Amer- 
ica has  recently  led  Germany  to  appoint 
her  first  salaried  consul  to  Central  Amer- 
ica. The  consul  has  been  accredited  to 
Nicaragua,  as  the  probable  construction 
of  the  canal  across  the  Isthmus  will 
make  it  the  most  important  of  Central 
American  countries. 

The  trade  between  Germany  and  Cen- 
tral America  annually  reaches  from 
$7,140,000  to  $11,900,000.  German 
companies  practically  control  the  entire 
snipping  of  the  coast,  and  $59,500,000 


of  German  capital  is  invested  there  in 
real  estate,  industrial  enterprises,  and  in 
banking  houses.  German  farms  and 
plantations  cover  more  than  742,000 
acres,  on  which  are  planted  20,000,000 
coffee  trees.  Much  of  the  trade  of  Cen- 
tral America  goes  abroad  instead  of 
coming  to  the  United  States,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  American  houses  do  not 
employ  in  their  establishments  persons 
speaking  Spanish,  and  refuse  to  give 
credit. 

A  SUBMARINE  ARCTIC  BOAT 

A  UNIQUE  submarine  boat  is  now 
being  built  at  Wilhelmshaven, 
Germany,  designed  not  for  war,  but  for 
the  search  for  the  North  Pole.  Herr 
Anschiitz-Kampfe,  of  Munich,  the  in- 
ventor, recently  described  his  plans  at 
a  meeting  of  the  Vienna  Geographical 
Society. 

The  boat  will  be  capable  of  descend- 
ing to  a  depth  of  160  feet,  and  of  swim- 
ming at  that  distance  from  the  surface, 
and  can  remain  fifteen  hours  under 
water.  The  vessel  is  in  the  form  of  an 
ellipsoid  of  rotation,  the  major  axis  be- 
ing 70  feet  and  the  breadth  20  feet.  Its 
cubical  contents  will  allow  sufficient  air 
for  five  men  for  fifteen  hours,  the  car- 
bonic acid  gas  being  removed  by  combi- 
nation with  caustic  soda.  The  boat  is 
kept  from  rising  by  vertical  screws  of 
five-horse  power,  and  is  propelled  by 
horizontal  screws  of  forty-horse  power. 
A  petroleum  motor  supplies  the  neces- 
sary power. 

When  ready  for  the  start  the  boat  will 
be  towed  to  the  edge  of  the  ice  near 
Spitzbergen,  about  600  miles  from  the 
Pole.  The  inventor's  argument  for  the 
rest  of  the  journey  is  as  follows :  The 
polar  ice,  on  the  average,  reaches  to  a 
depth  of  1 6  to  20  feet,  but  when  packed 
it  may  reach  to  a  depth  of  80  feet  ( land 
ice  in  the  form  of  icebergs,  which  ex- 
tend several  hundred  feet  below  water, 
may,  he  thinks,  l>e  disregarded  in  this 


2O2         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


region).  The  extent  of  ice-fields  rarely 
exceeds  three  miles,  and  as  the  vessel 
can  make  three  miles  an  hour  under 
water  and  can  remain  fifteen  hours,  he 
believes  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in 
swimming  from  opening  to  opening  of 
the  ice-fields.  The  possibility  of  meet- 
ing reefs  of  rock  rising  toward  the  sur- 
face or  of  sand  banks  he  considers  so 
slight  as  to  be  disregarded. 

If  after  proceeding  six  hours  under 
water  the  vessel  finds  no  opening  it  will 
rise  to  the  ice  and  search  for  a  thin  spot, 
and  if  blasting  cannot  effect  an  outlet 
there  will  be  plenty  of  time  to  return  to 
the  last  opening. 

WORK   IN  THE  ARCTICS  IN  1901 

NOT  since  the  years  of  the  Franklin 
search  expeditions  has  there  been 
such  activity  directed  toward  the  north 
and  south  polar  regions  as  during  the 
present  year.  Not  less  than  eight  expe- 
ditions are  now  in  the  far  north  or  are 
planning  for  active  work  in  Greenland, 
Spitzbergen,  and  Franz  Josef  Land,  and 
of  these, five — Baldwin,  Peary,  Sverdr  up, 
Bernier,  and  Anschiitz-Kampfe — are 
aiming  for  the  North  Pole. 

Peary  passed  his  third  consecutive 
winter  in  the  vicinity  of  Smith  Sound, 
and  is  now  probably  sledding  toward 
the  Pole.  In  July  the  Peary  Arctic 
Club  of  Brooklyn  will  dispatch  for  the 
third  time  a  relief  ship  to  carry  him  sup- 
plies and  to  bring  him  back  if  he  this 
year  reaches  his  goal.  If  unsuccessful 
he  remains  another  year.  Peary  is  not 
yet  informed  that  the  Duke  of  Abruzzi 
last  year  eclipsed  Nansen'  s  record.  Mrs. 
Peary,  with  her  little  daughter,  went 
north  in  the  Peary  relief  ship  of  1900, 
hoping  to  join  her  husband. 

Sverdrup's  plans  for  this  summer  are 
a  mystery,  as  they  were  in  1900.  He 
is  probably  pegging  away  in  northeast- 
ern Greenland.  He  also  has  passed  his 
third  consecutive  winter  in  the  far  north, 
but  no  vessel  has  taken  him  supplies  in 


the  meantime,  and  probably  he  will  be 
obliged  to  return  in  September. 

Baldwin  inaugurates  the  most  ini]x>r 
tant  arctic  expedition  of  the  year.  The 
primary  object  of  the  lialdwin-Zeigler 
party  is  avowedly  to  get  to  the  Pole. 
Scientific  work  is  secondary,  but  the 
equipment  of  the  party  is  so  complete 
that  much  valuable  data  will  undoubt- 
edly be  obtained.  Prof.  J .  Howard  ( »<  >rx , 
the  well-known  physicist  of  Columbian 
University,  accompanies  Mr.  Baldwin 
as  far  as  Franz  Josef  Land,  where  he 
will  spend  the  summer  in  work,  and 
return  on  the  second  ship,  the  Fridtjoj. 
The  names  of  the  scientific  men  who 
will  remain  permanently  with  the  party 
have  not  yet  been  announced. 

Mr.  Baldwin  intends  to  make  some  in- 
teresting experiments  in  the  matter  of 
food.  He  is  taking  a  quantity  of  desic- 
cated potatoes  ;  also  quantities  of  ' '  fruit 
bricks,"  with  which  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  has  experimented  so  suc- 
cessfully. Bushels  of  strawberries,  rasp- 
berries, etc. ,  can  thus  be  compressed  into 
solid  form  and  retain  their  freshness 
until  used  months  later.  Four  hundn 
picked  Siberian  dogs  will  be  take 
which  is  four  times  as  many  as  the  Duke 
of  Abruzzi  had  with  him  and  twelve 
times  the  number  Nansen  took.  The 
bottoms  of  the  kyaks  and  sled-runners, 
which  were  constructed  in  Norway,  a 
lined  with  German  silver,  which  M 
Baldwin  believes  will  afford  the  best  pro- 
tection against  water  and  ice. 

The  Amerika  and  Fridtjof "will  steam 
north  together  as  far  as  the  ice  permits, 
when  the  stores  of  the  Fridtjof  will  be 
transferred  to  the  Amerika  and  to  a  con- 
venient point  on  Franz  Josef  Land,  and 
the  smaller  ship  returns  to  Tromso. 

A  Russian  Party,  on  a  vessel  of  the 
type  of  the  ice-breaking  Erntak,  will 
push  northward  as  far  as  the  powerful 
vessel  can  crush  its  way.  A  large  staff 
of  scientists  will  conduct  observations 
during  the  trip,  as  the  main  purpose  ot 
the  expedition  is  scientific.  The  /:/  mak. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


203 


with  boilers  under  half  pressure,  can 
force  her  way  through  polar  ice  of  1 2  to 
14  feet  thickness  at  a  rate  of  nearly  3 
knots  an  hour.  This  type  of  vessel  may 
prove  an  important  factor  in  ultimately 
reaching  the  pole. 

Captain  Bernier,  of  Quebec,  has  adopt- 
ed essentially  the  plan  Nansen  has  urged 
of  approaching  the  Pole  from  Bering  Sea, 
between  165  and  1 70  degrees  east  longi- 
tude, and  then  drifting  toward  the  Pole. 
Captain  Bernier  does  not  expect  to  set 
out  this  year,  but  is  making  arrange- 
ments for  an  expedition  to  start  in 
1902. 

The  widely  circulated  statement  that 
the  Duke  of  Abruzzi  would  send  a 
special  vessel  northward  in  July  to 
search  for  the  three  members  of  his  party 
who  were  lost  in  Franz  Josef  Land  in 
March,  1900,  is  unfounded.  The  whal- 
ing steamer  Capella,  which  every  sum- 
mer goes  northward,  toward  the  end  of 
July  will  stop  incidentally  at  Franz  Josef 
Land  to  see  if  it  can  find  traces  of  the 
missing  men,  but  the  Italian  prince  has 
no  connection  with  the  plan. 

Walter  Wellman  has  purchased  a 
whaling  steamer  in  which  he  hopes  soon 
to  lead  a  third  arctic  expedition.  The 
party  may  start  this  year  or  wait  till  the 
summer  of  1902. 

The  project  of  Herr  Anschutz-Kampfe 
of  attaining  the  North  Pole  by  means  of 
a  submarine  boat  has  been  alluded  to  on 
page  20 1. 

WORK  IN  THE  ANTARCTICS 

PLANS  are  under  way  for  five  expe- 
ditions to  southern  regions,  two  of 
which — the  English  and  the  German — 
set  out  in  July,  in  costly  ships  specially 
constructed  for  the  purpose.  ~ 

The  Discovery,  the  first  ship  ever  con- 
structed in  England  for  purely  explo- 
ratory work,  was  recently  launched  on 
the  Firth  of  Tay.  The  Discovery,  which 
is  the  vessel  of  the  English  Antarctic 
Expedition,  is  the  sixth  of  her  name  in 


the  annals  of  British  exploration.  The 
first  Discovery  carried  Hudson  to  Hud- 
son Bay  in  1610,  on  the  ill-fated  voy- 
age when  his  crew  mutinied  and  aban- 
doned him  in  a  tiny  boat  to  perish  on 
the  great  bay  which  he  had  discovered. 
The  second  of  the  name  one  hundred 
years  later  made  a  voyage  to  Hudson 
Bay.  The  third  was  the  second  ship  in 
Cook's  third  voyage,  in  which  he  dis- 
covered the  Hawaiian  Islands,  only  to 
be  murdered  there  a  few  months  later. 
In  the  fourth  Vancouver  explored  the 
Gulf  of  Georgia  and  the  shores  of  the 
island  which  bears  his  name— i79i-'95, 
and  the  fifth  was  the  second  ship  of  the 
Arctic  expedition  of  Sir  George  Nares. 

The  present  Discovery \is  as  staunchly 
built  as  experience  and  science  can  make 
her.  She  is  a  combined  sailing  and 
steam  vessel,  with  engines  of  45o-horse 
power,  and  will  be  able  to  steam  about 
eight  knots  an  hour.  At  the  water  line 
she  is  170  feet  in  length,  with  an  ex- 
treme breadth  of  33  feet ;  her  mean 
draft  is  16  feet  and  her  displacement 
1,750  tons. 

Captain  Scott  will  have  under  him 
four  other  officers,  two  of  them  belong- 
ing to  the  navy  and  two  to  the  Royal 
Naval  Reserve.  The  second  in  com- 
mand will  be  Lieutenant  Armitage, 
whose  three  years'  experience  in  Fran/ 
Josef  Land  with  Jackson  should  be  of 
immense  service,  especially  if  he  is 
placed  in  command  of  a  land  party. 
There  will  be  three  civilian  scientific 
specialists  and  two  medical  officers,  both 
of  them  qualified  to  undertake  certain 
departments  of  scientific  work.  The 
petty  officers  and  crew  will  number 
about  25,  so  that  the  complete  comple- 
ment of  the  Discovery  is  not  likely  to 
exceed  40.  There  will  be  some  20 
sledges  and  20  dogs,  some  of  the  sledges 
being  light  enough  to  be  easily  drawn 
by  men. 

The  Gauss,  for  the  German  Antarctic 
Expedition  (named  after  the  Gottingen 
professor  who  did  so  much  to  stimulate 


204        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC    MAGAZINE 


Antarctic  research ),  was  launched  at  Kiel 
early  in  April.  The  German  ship,  like 
tin.  /V\M>;v; T,  is  built  mainly  of  wood, 
the  only  material  which  is  elastic  and 
strong  enough  to  resist  ice  pressure  and 
the  boisterous  seas  of  the  south  polar 
regions.  She  is  some  twenty  feet  shorter 
than  the  English  vessel,  but  is  broader, 
and  her  displacement  is  300  tons  less. 
The  crew  will  consist,  in  addition  to  Dr. 
von  Drygalski,  of  four  scientific  assist- 
ants, a  captain,  a  first  officer,  two  mates, 
an  engineer,  ten  seamen,  six  assistant 
engineers  and  stokers,  a  cook,  and  a 
steward — 28  in  all.  Each  of  the  officers 
has  a  cabin  to  himself,  while  the  crew 
have  four  large  rooms.  All  the  dwell- 
ing-rooms will  be  heated  by  steam,  and 
it  is  calculated  that  a  temperature  of  50° 
Fahr.  will  be  maintained  within  when 
that  outside  is  as  low  as  —  22°.  Electric 
light  will  be  provided  throughout  prac- 
tically the  whole  ship,  and  an  acetylene 
apparatus  may  possibly  also  be  installed. 
Laboratories  and  other  special  arrange- 
ments are  provided  for  scientific  work, 
while,  as  in  the  British  ship,  dredging 
and  sounding  apparatus  have  been  pro- 
vided. Dr.  von  Drygalski  is  planning 
to  take  50  dogs.  He,  as  well  as  the  Eng- 
lish captain,  has  included  a  balloon  in 
the  equipment. 

A  map  showing  the  routes  of  the  Eng- 
lish and  German  expeditions  was  pub- 
lished in  this  Magazine,  in  No.  8,  vol.  x. 
The  English  expect  to  establish  a  station 
on  Cape  Adare,  Victoria  Land,  which 
will  be  the  base  of  their  land  parties, 
while  the  Germans  plan  to  make  their 
base  on  some  point  in  Wilkes  Land. 
Each  vessel  will  carry  sufficient  stores 
for  3  years,  as  it  is  probable  that  each 
party  will  remain  that  time  within  the 
Antarctic  Circle. 

The  Swedish  Antarctic  Expedition, 
under  Dr.  Otto  Nordenskjold,  has  en- 
gaged the  Antarctic,  the  vessel  with 
which  Dr.  Nathorst  made  his  notable 
explorations  on  the  east  coast  of  Green- 
land in  1899.  This  party  may  possibly 


leave  in  September,  but  the  chance.s  arc- 
that  they  will  not  set  out  until  1902. 

Plans  for  the  Scottish  Antarctic  Ex- 
pedition are  progressing.  This  ex]x.-di- 
tion  will  probably  not  set  out  until  the 
year  1902. 

The  Duke  of  Abruzzi  is  organi/ing  a 
south  polar  expedition  to  start  in  June, 
1902.  He  is  enthusiastically  supported 
by  all  Italians. 

AN   AMERICAN  FLOATING  EXPOSI- 
TION 

THE  suggestion  for  a  floating  expo- 
sition made  by  the  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  Treasury  I  )e- 
partment  in  the  February  number  of  this 
magazine  has  aroused  much  discussion 
not  only  throughout  the  United  States, 
but  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  Mr. 
Austin  has  received  letters  from  various 
countries  in  Europe  asking  about  the 
proposed  enterprise,  and  many  inquiries 
from  manufacturers  and  merchants  in 
the  United  States  desiring  to  participate 
in  an  undertaking  of  this  character. 

This  suggestion  of  Mr.  Austin  has 
been  followed  by  the  announcement  that 
a  floating  exhibition,  to  visit  the  cities 
bordering  upon  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and 
Caribbean  Sea,  has  been  organized  at 
Buffalo,  and  will  leave  in  the  autumn  of 
the  present  year  for  that  field.  A  num- 
ber of  other  enterprises  of  this  character 
have  also  been  suggested. 

The  Bureau  of  Statistics  has  received 
the  following  statement,  published  in  the 
Moniteur  OJficiel  du  Commerce  (Paris, 
March  28,  1900),  regarding  a  floating 
exposition  recently  organized  in  Ham- 
burg, Germain  : 

"  The  earliest  exhibition  of  this  kind 
was  organized  about  two  years  ago,  and 
it  must  be  said  that  the  results  of  the  en- 
terprise were  in  excess  of  the  most  san- 
guine expectations:  Total  value  of  trans- 
actions, 22,000,000  marks  ( $5,236,000), 
at  a  cost  of  about  800,000  marks,  or 
about  $190,400.  The  details  of  opera- 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


205 


tion  are  stated  by  the  correspondent  as 
follows  : 

"  '  The  syndicate  addresses  to  manu- 
facturing and  commercial  firms  circulars 
explaining  the  purpose  of  the  exhibition 
and  the  terms  of  participation.  As  soon 
as  the  number  of  would-be  participants 
is  large  enough  to  permit  the  loading  of 
a  vessel,  the  exhibitors  send  their  sam- 
ples to  the  port  of  departure.  These 
samples  are  then  mounted  and  exhibited 
on  board  the  vessel,  especially  fitted  for 
this  purpose. 

'  By  each  exhibit  there  is  an  adver- 
tisement giving  prices  and  terms  of  sale. 
Sales  agents  representing  either  the  syn- 
dicate or  the  individual  exhibitors  fur- 
nish all  desired  information  to  the  vis- 
itors at  the  various  ports  where  the  vessel 
stops.  These  sales  agents  are  chosen 
from  among  the  young  men,  as  well  as 
the  young  women,  graduated  from  com- 
mercial schools  and  speaking  at  least 
two  languages.  Interpreters  are  hired 
on  the  spot  in  each  country  of  a  new 
language.  The  sales  agents,  besides  see- 
ing visitors  aboard  the  ship,  visit  also 
with  their  samples  the  towns  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  country.  In  such  manner 
the  cost  of  transportation  is  greatly 
reduced. 

1  The  exhibitors  pay  to  the  syndi- 
cate a  commission,  to  be  deducted  from 
the  realized  sales  and  in  proportion  to 
the  value  of  the  product.  In  addition 
to  this  commission,  the  participants  pay 
a  proportionate  share  of  the  cost  of  char- 
tering and  loading  the  vessel  and  the 
general  expenditure  of  the  undertaking, 
such  as  the  hire  of  clerks,  interpreters, 
etc.' 

'The  report  concludes  with  the  ex- 
pression of  the  hope  that  French  com- 
mercial circles  would  appreciate  this 
novel  idea  and  try  to  achieve  even  more 
splendid  results." 

Announcement  of  an  Austro-Hunga- 
rian  floating  exposition  to  leave  Trieste 
this  month  for  a  voyage  around  the 
world  was  made  in  the  preceding  num- 
ber of  this  Magazine. 


POPULATIONS  OF  AUSTRIA-HUN- 
GARY, DENMARK,  AND  SWITZER- 
LAND 

THE  figures  for  the  census  of  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, taken  in  December, 
1900,  show  an  increase  for  the  past  ten 
years  of  about  10  per  cent,  a  more  rapid 
growth  than  the  dual  kingdom  has  ex- " 
perienced  for  several  decades.  The  pop- 
ulation is  about  46, 890,000,  which  makes 
her  the  seventh  country  in  the  world  in 
population.  Those  outnumbering  her 
are  China,  the  British  Empire,  the  Rus- 
sian Empire,  the  United  States,  France, 
and  the  German  Empire.  Japan  has  a 
million  or  two  less. 

The  Danish  census  was  taken  Feb- 
ruary, 1901,  and  shows  an  increase  dur- 
ing the  last  eleven  years  of  12^  per 
cent,  which  is  greater  than  in  any  recent 
decade.  This  increase  is  mainly  due  to 
the  diminishing  number  of  emigrants 
and  to  the  decrease  in  the  death  rate, 
brought  about  by  the  efforts  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  prevent  the  spread  of  con- 
sumption. As  in  the  other  countries  of 
Europe,  the  people  are  moving  into  the 
towns.  The  towns  show  an  increase  of 
28  per  cent,  while  the  country  districts 
show  an  increase  of  only  4  per  cent. 
The  present  population  of  Denmark  is 

2,447-441- 

The  census  of  Switzerland,  taken  De- 
cember i,  1900,  gives  the  population  of 
the  republic  as  3,312,551,  an  increase  of 
13.5  per  cent  during  the  twelve  years 
since  the  preceding  enumeration. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CHINA 

I  KNOW  not  in  what  fable  I  have 
read  about  some  fishermen  who 
had  disembarked  upon  an  unknown 
island  and  had  already  begun  to  set  up 
their  tents  and  to  sow  their  grain,  feeling 
great  pride  in  their  unexpected  acquisi- 
tion, when,  all  at  once,  they  found  them- 
selves hurled  into  the  water — they  and 
their  implements — so  that  the  greater 


206         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


part  of  them  were  drowned.  They  had 
set  foot  upon  a  huge  slumbering  whale, 
which  had  subsequently  waked  up  when 
the  first  incursions  had  been  made  on 
his  body  by  the  newly  arrived  occupants. 

"This  is  a  fable,  but  I  fear  it  may 
become  history  when  it  is  applied  to  the 
mistaken  calculations  of  the  European 
powers  as  to  the  occupation  of  China. ' ' 

Thus  Cesare  Lombroso  in  a  recent  con- 
tribution to  The  Evening  Star  (Wash- 
ington, D.  C.)  describes  the  Chinese 
problem.  He  believes  that  the  Chinese 
are  a  different,  not  an  inferior,  race;  that 
they  are  now  lazily  dormant,  but  will 
soon  be  exasperated  by  European  op- 
pression and  excited  to  fearful  rebellion 
that  will  wreck  everything  foreign  in  the 
empire.  He  agrees  with  M.  De  Bloche, 
the  famous  Russian  advocate  of  interna- 
tional arbitration  and  the  inspirer  of  the 
Peace  Conference,  that  there  is  a  still 
greater  peril,  namely,  that  when  the 
Chinese  have  been  badgered  and  har- 
assed beyond  even  Chinese  patience,  as 
a  last  resource  they  will  throw  them- 
selves into  the  arms  of  Japan.  Such  an 
alliance  would  menace  the  rest  of  the 
world,  for  Japan  loves  Europeans  only 
so  long  as  she  can  learn  from  them. 


The  Manchurian  Railway  the  Russian 
Government  hopes  to  complete  during 
the  current  month,  states  the  American 
consul  at  Moscowr.  Working  trains  are 
already  running  betwreen  Onon,  Harbin, 
Vladivostok,  and  Port  Arthur.  Thus 
in  a  few  weeks  trains  will  run  from  St. 
Petersburg  to  Port  Arthur  with  only 
one  small  break — the  few  miles  around 
Lake  Baikal,  where  heavy  boats  ferry 
the  cars  across  the  lake.  A  map  show- 
ing the  route  of  the  Manchurian  Rail- 
way was  published  in  No.  8,  vol.  xi  of 
this  Magazine. 

The  Survey  of  Greece,  which  has  been 
interrupted  since  the  Greco-Turkish  war, 
is  to  be  resumed  this  spring  under  the 


direction  of  Heinrich  Harti,  a  prod 
at  the  Vienna  University.  Prod 
Harti  was  summoned  to  Athens  last 
autumn  to  inspect  and  take  charge  of 
the  topographical  bureau  .which  he 
founded  some  years  ago.  It  is  feared 
that  the  cadastral  survey  by  communi- 
ties which  has  been  ordered  will  not  be 
successful,  as  the  people  object  to  the 
demarkation  of  boundaries.  Professor 
Harti,  however,  hopes  to  be  able  to 
make  a  general  survey  of  sufficient  ac- 
curacy to  make  a  map  of  the  whole 
kingdom  on  a  uniform  system. 

Explorations  in  Alaska.  —  The  U.  S. 
Geological  Survey  will  send  this  sum- 
mer three  important  expeditions  for  ex- 
ploratory work  in  Alaska.  The  first, 
under  W.  J.  Peters,  will  start  from 
Bergman,  nearly  1,000  miles  northwest 
of  Sitka,  and  proceed  to  the  Arctic 
Ocean.  The  party  hopes  to  advance 
eastward  as  far  as  the  British  boundary, 
and  then  will  turn  westward  again  and 
proceed  toward  Point  Barrow.  The 
second  party,  led  by  \V.  C.  Mendenhall, 
the  geologist,  will  work  around  Kotze- 
bue  Sound.  The  third  party,  led  by  Mr. 
Gerdine,  will  continue  previous  exp 
rations  in  the  region  of  the  Copper  Riv 

The  War  Department  sends  no  exj>e 
dition  to  Alaska,   as  its  resources  are 
fully  occupied  by  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and 
the  Philippines. 


The  Biological  Survey  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  will  send  this  sum- 
mer parties  to  the  region  of  Athabasca 
Lake  and  the  Great  Slave  Lake  to  de- 
termine the  zones  of  distribution  of  the 
fauna  of  that  country.  Mr.  Preble,  who 
so  successfully  led  the  party  from  the 
Survey  to  the  Hudson  Bay  country  last 
year,  has  charge  of  the  work.  Dr.  C. 
Hart  Merriam,  the  chief  of  the  Survey, 
continues  his  study  of  the  zones  of  dis- 
tribution of  the  fauna  of  California. 

The  new  director  of  the  Geological 
Survey  of  Canada  is  Dr.  Robert  Bell. 


GEOGRAPHIC    LITERATURE 


207 


formerly  the  senior  member  of  the  staff 
of  the  Survey.  Dr.  Bell,  since  he  joined 
the  Survey,  in  1857,  has  made  surveys, 
both  topographical  and  geological,  in 
almost  every  section  of  Canada. 

Three  expert  geologists  of  the  U.  S. 
Geological  Survey  are  now  engaged  in 
making  an  examination  into  the  min- 
eral resources  of  Cuba.  The  work  is 
very  important,  and  may  result  in  much 
economic  value  to  the  island.  It  was 
undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of  Gov- 
ernor-General Wood,  and  all  of  the  ex- 


penses will  be  met  by  the  Cuban  gov- 
ernment. 

The  U.  S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey 

has  five  parties  in  Porto  Rico  charting 
the  coast  of  the  island.  This  work  has 
now  been  in  progress  for  two  years,  and 
great  advance  has  been  made  in  obtain- 
ing accurate  charts  of  the  coastline. 
Several  local  harbor  charts  of  the  Ha- 
waiian Islands  are  being  published  by 
the  Survey,  the  result  of  surveys  made 
in  1899  and  1900. 


GEOGRAPHIC    LITERATURE 


Where  Black  Rules  White:  A  Journey 
Across  and  About  Haiti.  By  Hes- 
keth  Prichard.  Illustrated.  8vo,  pp. 
[i-xi +]  1-288.  New  York  :  Chas, 
Scribner's  Sons,  1900. 
Made  attractive  by  a  tasty  symbolic 
binding,  clear  type,  thick  and  large 
paper,  fair  half-tone  reproductions  of 
photographs,  and  excellent  press- work, 
this  book  is  a  convenient  outline  of  its 
writer's  knowledge  concerning  one  of 
the  most  interesting  portions  of  the  west- 
ern hemisphere — the  only  considerable 
portion  which  has  eyer  reverted  from 
Caucasian  rule  to  the  dominion  of  an 
alien  race.  The  fifteen  brief  chapters 
are  based  mainly  on  the  observations  of 
a  single  visit  ;  although  interesting  his- 
torical details  are  interwoven  here  and 
there,  there  is  nothing  in  profession  or 
performance  to  indicate  that  the  author 
was  inspired  by  the  instincts  of  the  his- 
torian, and  much  to  indicate  that  he  wras 
not  geographer  or  geologist,  naturalist 
or  artist,  ethnologist  or  sociologist,  econ- 
omist, or  even  serious  student — but  just 
a  tourist  bent  on  writing  a  book.  So 
the  chapters  are  light  if  not  frothy,  the 
expressions  youthful  if  not  flippant  ;  yet 
the-  vocabulary  is  remarkably  rich  and 
the  word-painting  singularly  vivid,  and 


the  narrative  smacks  of  the  soil  through- 
out. The  author  pays  tribute  to  Tous- 
saint  L'Ouverture  as  the  one  noble 
figure  in  Haytian  history,  but  shows 
that  the  bloodthirsty  Dessalines  is  the 
local  hero  ;  he  summarizes  the  history 
of  black  rule  as  one  of  steady  lapse  from 
civilization  to  barbarism  if  not  to  sav- 
agery, and  is  correspondingly  pessimistic 
as  to  the  future  of  the  island ;  he  ascribes 
the  progressive  degradation  partly  to  the 
incompetence  of  the  masses,  partly  to 
the  corruption  of  the  classes,  but  mainly 
to  the  persistence  of  the  Vaudoux  cult 
with  its  depressing  beliefs  and  ghastly 
ceremonies  running  down  to  serpent- 
worship  and  human  sacrifice.  The  book 
is  material  for  knowledge  of  Haiti — 
material  rather  meager  and  tenuous, 
perhaps,  but  direct,  useful,  and  happily 
dressed.  W  J  M. 

China.     By   James    Harrison    Wilson. 

Third  edition.     With  map.     8vo,  pp. 

xxxvii  +  1-422.    New  York  :  D.  Ap- 

pleton  &  Co.      1901. 

For  many  years  General  Wilson's 
work  on  China  has  been  a  standard 
authority.  The  third  edition  includes 
an  account  of  the  Boxer  War  and  of 
the  diplomatic  conferences  of  last  fall. 


208         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


General  Wilson  believes  that  Japan 
will  l>e  forced  to  follow  the  lead  of  t he- 
three  great  European  powers— France, 
Germany,  and  Russia — in  all  Chinese- 
questions.  Russia  occupies  an  impreg- 
nable position,  and  will  dictate  her  policy 
to  France,  and  thus  indirectly  to  Ger- 
many. A  few  hundred  years  from  now, 
General  Wilson  believes  that  ' '  univer- 
sal empire  will  have  its  nucleus  and 
seat ' '  in  China,  as  her  ' '  coal  measures 
and  iron  deposits  are  commonly  believed 
to  be  the  most  extensive  and  the  most 
enduring  in  the  world."  That  it  will 
be  an  empire  of  white  men  and  not  of 
yellow  men  is  the  author's  unhesitating 
conviction. 

The  Land  of  the  Moors.  By  Budgett 
Meakin.  Illustrated.  8vo,  pp.  464. 
New  York:  The  Macmillan  Co. ,  1901. 
Mr.  Meakin  was  for  some  years  editor 


'  of  the  Morocco  Times,  and  is  the  author 
of  a  number  of  reliable  books  relating 
to  the  Moorish  Umpire — ' '  The  Moor.-. 
"The  Moorish  Umpire,"  etc.  The 
present  volume  deals  more  especially 
with  the  geographic  features  and  the 
history  of  the  exploration  of  Mor< 
There  are  good  chapters  on  the  Phys- 
ical Features,  Mineral  Resources,  Vege- 
table Products,  and  Animal  Life.  The 
book  is  timely,  as  "the  land  of  the 
Moors  ' '  will  probably  be  the  center  of 
much  diplomatic  warfare  during  the 
next  decade.  The  apparent  alliance 
between  Italy  and  France  undoubtedly 
has  some  bearing  upon  the  ultimate 
fate  of  the  country.  The  author  be- 
lieves that  ' '  France  is  the  normal  heir 
to  Morocco  whenever  the  present  em- 
pire breaks  up, ' '  and  thinks  that  Eng- 
land should  make  up  her  mind  to  the 
inevitable  fact. 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   THE   NATIONAL 
GEOGRAPHIC   SOCIETY 


Meetings. 

April  12,  1901. — The  annual  recep- 
tion of  the  Society  was  held  in  the  par- 
lors of  the  Arlington  Hotel.  Mr.  Paul 
Du  Chaillu  was  the  guest  of  honor  of 
the  Society,  and  gave  some  interesting 
reminiscences  of  his  life.  The  official, 
diplomatic,  and  social  life  of  the  Capital 
were  the  guests  of  the  Society  during 
the  evening. 

April  19,  1901. — President  Graham 
Bell  in  the  chair.  The  new  by-laws  for 
the  Society,  submitted  and  recommended 
by  the  Board  of  Managers,  after  a  full 
discussion  were  unanimously  adopted. 
The  by-laws  and  the  reasons  for  their 
adoption  were  published  at  length  in  the 
April  number  of  this  Magazine  (pp. 
i67-'8). 


Announcements. 

The  President  announced  at  the  meet- 
ing April  1 9  that  the  plans  for  the  build- 
ing which  is  to  be  the  headquarters  of 
the  Society  are  advancing,  and  that  it  is 
hoped  in  a  few  weeks  active  work  will 
be  commenced. 

THE  ANNUAL  EXCURSION  AND  Fn:u> 
MEETING  of  the  Society  will  be  held  at 
Brandywine,  Del.,  Saturday,  May  18. 

As  the  fiscal  year  of  the  Society  will 
hereafter  begin  the  first  of  January  in- 
stead of  the  first  of  June,  the  Board  of 
Managers  have  voted  to  fix  the  due>  of 
members  for  the  seven  months  which 
intervene  between  the  end  of  the  pres- 
ent fiscal  year,  May  31,  1901,  and  the 
beginning  of  the  next  fiscal  year,  Jan- 
uary i,  1902,  at  $i. 


VOL.  XII,  No.  6 


WASHINGTON 


JUNE,  1901 


CHINA:     HER   HISTORY  AND   DEVELOP- 
MENT 


BY  JOHN  BARRETT,  FORMERLY  MINISTER  TO  SIAM 


MYTHOLOGY  plays  an  impor- 
tant part  in  the  ancient  history 
of  China,  as  it  does  in  that  of  the 
older  European  nations.  Going  back  to 
the  fabulous  times  of  500,000  to  1,000,000 
years,  it  first  begins  to  tell  a  story  of 
some  truth  about  thirty-three  centu- 
ries before  Christ.  Fuh-hi,  who  reigned 
2900  B.  C.,  is  commonly  regarded  as  the 
first  real  man  whose  name  stands  out  in 
the  long  dim  line  of  ancient  kings.  Be- 
fore him  as  a  human  monarch  were 
ages  of  supernatural  giants.  There  was 
Pwan-ku,  who  formed  cosmos  from 
chaos.  For  18,000  years  he  labored 
chiseling  into  definite  form  the  rude, 
shapeless  earth.  He  was  followed  by 
three  sovereigns  who,  during  another 
period  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  cen- 
turies, prepared  the  earth  for  ordinary 
life.  Under  the  suggestive  and  appro- 
priate names  of  the  Celestial,  Terrestrial, 
and  Human,  their  deeds  are  sung  in 
Chinese  legends.  In  these  tales  we  are 
told  how  they  evolved  the  relations  of 
the  sexes,  government,  and  order,  and 
taught  men  to  eat,  drink,  and  sleep. 
They  enticed  fire  from  heaven,  and  with 


it  cooked  the  raw  food  of  the  soil  for 
the  better  support  of  their  proteges  who 
were  populating  the  valleys  and  plains 
and  mountains  they  had  created.  There 
are  no  more  interesting  myths  in  the 
poetry  and  song  of  the  ancient  Greeks 
and  Romans  than  can  be  found  in  the 
fanciful  narratives  of  the  Chinese  ro- 
mancers ;  and,  if  we  investigate  care- 
fully the  relations  of  China  in  the  re- 
mote past  to  western  Asia,  we  may  be 
even  convinced  that  the  legendary  lore 
of  the  former  antedates  the  latter  in  its 
inspiration  and  first  rehearsal  to  charmed 
and  credulous  ears. 

EIGHT  GREAT  EMPERORS 

Fuh-hi,  the  first  landmark  of  history, 
and  his  seven  successors  held  sway  for 
nearly  eight  hundred  years,  an  average 
of  a  century  each.  The  atmosphere  of 
myth  still  remains  here,  unless  in  the 
repeated  songs  of  their  achievements 
some  lesser  lights  of  their  dynasty  are 
forgotten.  From  the  number  stands  out 
Hwangti,  "the  founder  of  China,"  as 
he  is  often  portrayed,  although  the  same 


2io         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


honor  is  given  to  many  others  and 
claimed  by  more.  Hwangti's  capital 
was  in  Honan,  and  he  is  described  as 
extending  the  empire  from  Pechili  to 
the  Yangtze,  while  his  son  even  extended 
the  boundaries  into  Manchuria  on  the 
north  and  Tonkin  en  the  south. 

He  is  given  the  credit  of  originating 
the  famous  "  Cycle  of  Cathay,"  the  ar- 
bitrary period  of  sixty  3'ears,  in  honor 
of  the  sixty-first  year  of  his  reign  ;  and 
he  established  a  regular  calendar.  But 
a  greater  deed  \vas  the  regulation  of 
weights  and  measures  according  to  the 
decimal  system.  He  carried  the  same- 
principle  into  the  government  of  his 
kingdom,  making  ten  towns  one  dis- 
trict, ten  districts  one  department,  ten 
departments  one  province,  and  ten  prov- 
inces one  empire.  He  built  highways 
upon  land,  and  boats  to  navigate  the 
rivers,  and  generally  was  a  wise  and 
progressive  monarch. 

He  was  following  in  the  footsteps  of 
Fuh-hi,  who  instituted  the  laws  of  mar- 
riage and  methods  of  agriculture  and 
fishing. 

The  lyre  and  lute  were  invented  by 
him  to  make  his  people  cheerful  and 
content.  Chinese  characters  were  de- 
vised and  family  names  were  then  first 
known. 

While  all  these  stories  of  providing 
the  necessities  and  of  adapting  the  real- 
ities of  life  suggest  a  degree  of  truth, 
there  is  woven  in  with  them  a  large 
measure  of  romance  that  colors  their 
historical  value.  Fuh-hi  attributed  all 
his  successes  and  glorious  achievements 
to  the  dragon-horse  that  came  out  of 
the  Yellow  River  bearing  a  scroll  on  its 
back,  and  possibly  in  this  fable  we  have 
the  crystallization  in  legendary  history 
of  the  dragon  conception,  which  plays 
so  important  a  part  in  contemporary 
Chinese  romance  and  reality  —  which 
adorns  their  flags  and  clothing,  is  the 
central  figure  of  their  art,  and  is  remem- 
bered in  their  prayers. 

But  the  glory  of  Fuh-hi  and  Hwangti 


is  overshadowed  by  the  renown  of  that 
galaxy  of  Chinese  heroes,  the  Kmperors 
Yao,  Shun,  and  Yu.  whom  Confucius 
and  Mencius,  China's  two  greatest  sa 
have  made  immortal.  Yao  and  Shun 
reigned  approximately  B.  C.  2350-2200, 
and  their  names  and  deeds  are  known 
to  even-  Chinese  boy  and  girl.  The 
child  of  mandarin  or  coolie  will  glibly 
describe  their  greatness,  as  the  son  of 
millionaire  or  pauper  in  America  will 
tell  you  about  Washington  or  Lincoln. 

It  is  well  to  note  in  this  connection 
that  the  characters  which  are  admired 
and  remembered  in  China  today  as  in 
the  past  are  generally  men  of  highest 
attainments  and  lofty  motives.  The 
sterner  records  of  history  tell  of  evil  as 
well  as  good  men,  but  the  popular  nar- 
ratives, songs,  and  poems,  together  with 
the  deep  philosophic  works  of  China's 
wise  men,  give  little  consideration  to 
other  than  the  great  and  good.  Thus 
has  there  been  a  continuous  and  notable 
influence  for  the  development  and  bet- 
terment of  the  Chinese  peoples  from  the 
earliest  times,  which  has  had  a  marked 
effect  upon  the  life  of  the  empire 
through  its  lips  and  downs  of  the  past 
centuries.  It  elevates  the  Chinese  fa 
above  and  beyond  any  position  as  bar- 
barians. It  demonstrates  the  existence 
of  a  powerful  civilization  more  years 
before  the  birth  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
than  have  elapsed  since  that  chief  event 
in  all  history  startled  and  amazed  the 
pagan  world. 

After  Yao  and  Shun  came  the  mighty 
Yu,  during  whose  reign  were  two  events 
that  will  never  allow  it  to  sink  into  en- 
tire oblivion.  The  first  was  the  terrible 
inundation  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
then  inhabited  empire  by  China's  sor- 
row, the  Yellow  River.  The  second 
was  the  discovery  of  the  manufacture  of 
wine.  Which  has  been  the  worst  for 
mankind  might  be  difficult  to  determine! 
Yu,  after  he  had  enjoyed  his  first  ex- 
perience with  the  beverage,  sagely  re- 
marked, "The  days  will  come  when 


CHINA  :    HER   HISTORY   AND   DEVELOPMENT     211 


some  of  my  successors,  through  drink- 
ing this,  will  cause  infinite  sorrow  to 
the  nation."  Yu  was  the  founder  of 
the  Hia  or  Hai  dynasty,  which  controlled 
China  from  2200  to  1818  B.  C. 

The  records  of  Chinese  historians  are 
not  definite  in  naming  the  year  when 
the  Chinese  settlers  first  arrived  in  their 
new  home,  but  it  was  in  these  early 
semi-legendary  years.  By  some  the  time 
is  placed  before  the  days  of  Fuh-hi  or 
as  contemporaneous  with  his  reign. 
Others  contend  that  they  came  about 
2500  B.  C.,  antedating  the  reign  of  Yu; 
but  nearly  all  agree  that  the  Chinese 
were  not  natives.  They  came,  if  we 
are  to  take  the  word  of  Confucius,  from 
the  valley  of  the  Euphrates  or  from  the 
regions  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  Journeying 
for  a  new  land  and  home,  they  persisted 
in  their  eastern  pilgrimage  by  a  north- 
ern route  and  entered  China  through 
the  valley  of  the  Hoangho  or  Yellow 
River,  until  finally  they  were  stopped  by 
the  boundless  waters  of  the  Pacific. 

The  fact  that  the  Chinese  were  not 
indigenous  adds  vastly  to  interest  in  the 
study  of  the  growth  of  the  empire.  It 
establishes  a  degree  of  sympathy  on  our 
part  with  their  history  that  we  might 
not  otherwise  feel.  The  present  domi- 
nant American  race  were  not  aborigines; 
we  drove  the  latter  unmercifully  before 
us  and  ruthlessly  took  possession  of  this 
continent.  So  the  Chinese,  entering 
their  new  field  of  effort,  gradually  drove 
before  them  the  natives  until  now  there 
are  left  only  small  numbers  of  the  ab- 
origines, who  have  their  home  and  ren- 
dezvous in  the  fastnesses  of  the  south- 
ern mountains.  The  Chinese  seem  to 
have  begun  their  empire  with  isolated 
bands  of  colonists  in  the  northern,  cen- 
tral, and  western  provinces  of  Shensi, 
•Shansi,  Honan,  and  Hupeh,  just  as  the 
first  Europeans  established  themselves 
in  Massachusetts,  Virginia,  and  Florida. 
Now  they  reach  over  an  area  larger  than 
that  which  is  under  the  sovereignty  of 
the  American  people. 


The  mighty  Hia  dynasty  was  doomed 
to  end  through  the  very  means  that  Yu 
predicted.  It  went  out  in  debauchery 
and  unbridled  voluptuousness,  under  the 
lead  of  vain  Kieh-Kwei,  and  of  his 
beautiful  but  wanton  consort,  Meihi. 

The  dynasty  of  Shang  then  assumed 
power,  and  28  sovereigns  occupied  the 
throne  through  644  years.  These  kings 
were  good  and  bad,  strong  and  weak, 
and  the  empire  prospered  and  suffered, 
extended  and  contracted,  according  to 
the  character  and  power  of  these  men. 
If  we  will  pause  and  think  what  a 
period  of  644  years  and  28  monarchs 
means,  and  yet  what  little  impression 
they  made  on  history  beyond  a  passing 
record  of  the  usual  wars,  cabals,  and 
strifes,  we  are  in  a  mood  to  appreciate 
how  trifling  a  portion  of  history's  long 
story  the  present  exciting  times  may 
occupy  in  the  minds  of  the  future 
historians. 

RECUPERATIVE   CHARACTER   OF   CHI- 
NESE 


us  remember,  however,  one  con- 
sideration that  augurs  well  for  China  in 
the  future,  as  it  has  figured  conspicu- 
ously to  her  advantage  and  in  her  growth 
during  both  the  clear  and  the  misty  cen- 
turies of  time  that  is  gone  :  the  end  of 
the  majority  of  the  dynasties  has  come 
under  the  reign  of  evil  or  weak  minded 
men  and  women,  when  it  deserved  to  end 
and  when  it  was  best  for  the  people  and 
kingdom  that  a  change  should  be  inau- 
gurated, and  with  few  exceptions  the 
succeeding  monarchs  have  been  men  of 
eminent  ability  and  leadership.  This 
recuperative  feature  of  China  —  of  her 
dynasties,  kings,  and  people  —  which  has 
been  illustrated  repeatedly  through  fifty 
centuries  or  seventy-five  cycles,  may 
prove  her  salvation  in  the  present  cri- 
sis. No  other  nation  in  the  history  of 
the  world  has  successfully  mastered  the 
events  of  centuries  like  China.  If  the 
principle  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  is 
demonstrated  as  logical  and  true  in  the 


2  i  2         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


unlimited  past  competition  of  peoples 
and  governments,  and  has  kept  China 
in  the  front  as  an  independent  power, 
will  not  its  application  in  the  future  be 
attested  by  a  newer  and  greater  China 
rising  out  of  the  trials  and  confusion  of 
the  hour  ?  With  such  an  evolution  of 
events,  the  policy  of  our  Government  of 
friendly  assistance  to  China  would  seem 
all  the  more  wise,  and  fraught  with 
favorable  results  alike  to  Cathay  and 
America. 

THE  GOLDEN  AGE  IN  CHINA'S  AN- 
CIENT HISTORY 

Out  of  the  darkness  shall  come  light. 
From  the  haze  of  the  Shang  dynasty 
was  born  the  incomparable  Chow  dy- 
nasty,which  boasted  of  thirty-five  rulers 
and  lasted  through  nine  eventful  centu- 
ries, from  B.  C.  1122  to  255.  This  pe- 
riod was  a  golden  age  in  China's  ancient 
history.  It  was  the  bridge  between  the 
doubtful  past  and  the  actual  present. 
But  its  crowning  glory  was  the  appear- 
ance of  Confucius  and  Mencius  upon 
the  stage  of  the  world's  history;  nor 
should  Laotze,  the  founder  of  Taoism,  be 
omitted.  He  figured  in  the  same  dy- 
nasty, but  his  work  was  not  so  much 
for  the  bettering  of  his  fellow-men  as 
were  the  teachings  and  example  of 
Confucius. 

When  we  discuss  at  the  dinner  table, 
in  lecture-rooms,  and  in  social  and  lit- 
erary intercourse  the  golden  ages  of 
Greece  and  Rome  we  are  prone  to  for- 
get entirely  that  in  China  there  was  a 
corresponding  age,  when  real  civiliza- 
tion in  its  broad  sense  reached  a  mark  as 
high  even  as  it  did  in  southern  Europe. 
It  began  in  strength,  blazed  into  unpar- 
alleled brilliancy,  and  then  sank  into 
decadence,  to  be  followed  by  a  period 
when  the  dregs  of  misfortune  were 
drunk  by  the  people  ;  and  such  was  the 
record  also  of  European  and  western 
Asiatic  powers. 

If  the  founder  of  the  Chow  dynasty, 


Wu  Wang,  were  alive  today  he  would 
be  the  man  of  power,  ability,  and  leader- 
ship to  save  China.  He  found  the  em- 
pire in  a  more  deplorable  state  than 
Kwangsu,  the  present  ruler,  when  he 
ascended  the  throne.  He  made  it  re- 
spected throughout  Asia.  Embassies 
came  with  tribute  from  Korea  on  the 
north,  Cambodia  and  Siam  on  the  south, 
and  Tatary  and  Tibet  on  the  nortli  and 
west.  But  in  his  power  he  made  one 
cardinal  error  :  he  established  tin 
tern  of  feudal  states  and  feudal  lords. 
Their  struggles  and  wrars  were  the  in- 
fluences which  eventually  wrought  the 
downfall  of  his  dynasty. 

Singular  enough,  great  national  pro- 
gress was  made  during  these  times  of 
strife,  and  the  boundaries  of  the  empire 
were  enlarged  in  proportion  to  the  in- 
ternal wars.  The  foundation  was  laid 
for  the  greater  China  that  was  to  follow. 

If  nothing  stood  to  the  credit  of  the 
Chow  dynasty  other  than  the  life  of 
Confucius,  it  would  have  honor  enough, 
without  even  including  Mencius  and 
Laotze. 

CONFUCIUS  AND  HIS  PRECEPTS 

Confucius  was  born  551  years, 
nearly  six  centuries,  before  Christ, 
yond  a  few  myths  and  legends  con 
nected  with  his  birth,  there  is  nothing 
fabulous  about  his  life.  He  stands  out 
clearly  as  one  of  the  greatest  men  that 
the  world  has  ever  produced.  He  was 
a  man,  not  a  saint ;  a  man  who  went 
through  the  average  experiences  of  a 
scholar  and  statesman  in  public  life,  and 
who  in  an  unpretentious  but  sincere  way 
endeavored  to  better  his  fellow-men. 
He  gradually  rose  from  low7  estate  to 
be  a  magistrate,  and  finally  became  the 
prime  minister  of  Duke  Ting.  He  was 
an  eminent  lawyer,  not  unlike  Moses 
or  Solon,  and  was  a  practical  philoso- 
pher like  Benjamin  Franklin.  He  was 
a  man  of  the  people  and  knew  their  im- 
pulses, hopes,  and  wishes  like  Abraham 


CHINA:    HER    HISTORY   AND    DEVELOPMENT      213 


Lincoln.  It  was  because  he  understood 
man's  nature  that  he  was  able  to  make 
such  a  lasting  impression.  The  masses 
of  China  study  his  precepts  today  as 
they  did  twenty  centuries  ago  and  will 
twenty  centuries  hence. 

Confucianism  has  its  failings  and  \veak 
points  when  regarded  as  a  religion  and 
must  in  the  evolution  of  time  give  way 
as  a  religion  to  Christianity  ;  but  as 
the  teachings  of  a  great  philosopher  his 
works  will  never  be  forgotten.  In  fact 
they  will  have  in  some  respects  a  wider 
hearing  and  following  when  the  Euro- 
pean and  American  world  studies  more 
the  interesting  and  instructive  history 
of  Cathay. 

Confucianism  became  a  religion  not 
through  any  intent  or  purpose  of  its 
founder.  He  never  endeavored  to  start 
a  religion,  to  be  considered  as  a  god,  or 
as  a  prophet  of  a  god.  The  doctrines, 
precepts,  and  philosophy  of  Confucius 
became  a  religion  because  they  were 
purer  and  higher  than  the  conceptions 
of  any  other  religion  that  in  those  days 
was  offered  to  the  people  ;  they  were  be- 
yond and  above  the  teachings  of  Laotze 
or  Buddha  in  the  mind  of  the  average 
Chinese  ruler  or  vassal.  By  natural 
evolution  in  the  imagination  of  the  peo- 
ple he  became  in  a  measure  a  god,  but 
it  is  well  to  be  remembered  that  he  did 
not  believe  in  any  existing  God,  and 
there  is  no  hint  in  his  philosophy  of  a 
future  life.  When  asked  what  was  his 
opinion  of  death  he  replied  :  ' '  How  can 
one  know  death  when  one  does  not 
know  life  ' '  ? 

To  those  who  have  firm  belief  in  a 
living  God  and  in  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  it  would  not  seem  that  Confu- 
cianism could  stand  as  a  religion  against 
the  expanding  influence  of  Christianity. 
No  matter  how  much  we  admire  the 
character  and  teachings  of  Confucius, 
there  are  lacking  in  his  philosophy  the 
two  great  essentials  of  faith  and  hope 
which  are  so  dear  to  the  Christian  world. 
Charity  there  is  in  Confucius'  teachings, 


and  that  is  a  principal  element  in  mak- 
ing them  strong. 

Love,  respect,  and  worship  of  ances- 
tors, which  have  played  so  important  a 
part  in  China's  political,  material,  and 
moral  development,  are  fostered  by  the 
precepts  of  Confucius.  His  portrayal 
of  the  lives  of  the  mighty  Yao  and  Shun 
of  the  mythical  days,  and  later  of  Wan 
Wang,  Wu  Wang,  and  Chau  King,  of 
the  Chow  dynasty,  tended  to  develop  a 
deep  sense  of  ancestral  homage.  In  the 
growth  of  China  this  influence  has,  on 
the  one  hand,  protected  the  family  and 
the  state,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  re- 
tarded material  progress.  Worship  of 
ancestors,  with  its  virtues  and  faults, 
has  been  a  synonym  for  conservatism  in 
China.  What  was  sufficient  and  satis- 
factory to  their  ancestors  should  be  suf- 
ficient and  satisfactory  for  the  present 
generation  !  The  fear,  for  instance,  of 
disturbing  the  rest  and  peace  of  ances- 
tors and  of  doing  unpardonable  slight 
to  their  memory  has  in  a  measure  pre- 
vented the  opening  of  the  earth  for  its 
mineral  and  metals,  has  retarded  inven- 
tion, and  in  these  later  days  checked 
such  far-reaching  enterprises  as  railway 
construction  and  further  modern  devel- 
opment of  China's  material  resources. 

If  Confucianism  is  a  religion,  it  is  the 
religion  of  China;  but  Buddhism  is  also 
in  a  sense  the  religion  of  China,  with 
Taoism,  founded  by  Laotze,  in  a  pro- 
nounced secondary  position.  Every 
Buddhist  and  every  Taoist,  however,  is 
a  disciple  of  Confucius  to  a  certain  de- 
gree, while  a  great  number  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  Confucius  are  not  Buddhists 
or  Taoists.  Every  Chinese  child  is  a 
student  of  Confucius.  All  of  my  Chi- 
nese servants  could  recite  his  principal 
precepts.  They  seemed  to  understand 
them  also;  but  oftentimes  they  were  in 
doubt  about  their  real  respect .  for 
Buddha  and  Laotze. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  or  purpose 
of  this  paper  to  compare  the  teachings 
of  Christ  and  Confucius  ;  but  ir%  dis- 


214         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


missing  reference  to  such  comparison  it 
is  interesting  to  remember  the  words  of 
one  distinguished  savant,  Dr.  Legge. 
He  says:  "  The  teaching  of  Confucian- 
ism on  human  duty  is  wonderful  and 
admirable.  In  the  last  three  of  the  four 
things  which  Confucius  delighted  to 
teach — letters,  ethics,  devotion  of  soul, 
and  truthfulness — hi§  utterances  are  in 
harmony  with  both  the  law  and  the 
gospel." 

Possibly  the  remarkable  honesty  of  the 
Chinese  as  business  men  and  merchants 
in  dealing  with  foreigners,  which  has 
been  a  marked  national  trait  in  their 
commercial  relations  during  the  last 
sixty  years,  should  be  attributed  to  Con- 
fucius. Possibly  it  is  due  to  native 
shrewdness;  but  it  is  so  surprising  to 
the  average  foreigner  that  it  is  worth 
recording  here. 

Mr.  Thomas  Whitehead,  the  distin- 
guished manager  of  .the  great  chartered 
bank  of  India,  Australia,  and  China, 
which  is  the  second  largest  banking 
house  in  Asia,  says  that  his  institution 
has  never  directly  lost  a  penny  through 
Chinese  dishonesty  in  transactions  rep- 
resenting many  millions  of  sterling. 
The  famous  Asiatic  foreign  house  or 
hong  of  Jardine,  Matheson  &  Co.  de- 
clare that  they  have  lost  more  money  to 
8  per  cent  of  foreigners  than  to  92  per 
cent  of  Chinese,  in  a  total  trade  of  100 
per  cent,  covering  a  period  of  nearly 
sixty  years  and  representing  one  hun- 
dred millions  sterling  ! 

Mencius  was  a  scholar,  thinker,  and 
philosopher  second  only  to  Confucius. 
His  time  is  placed  about  300  B.  C.  His 
teachings,  moral  deductions  and  pre- 
cepts, epigrams,  and  wise  sayings  are 
studied  and  committed  today  by  every 
native  in  China,  and,  next  to  Confucius, 
he  has  exerted  a  mighty  influence  on 
Chinese  development. 

Of  the  personal  Laotze  we  know  but 
little.  He  was  a  man  of  profound  learn- 
ing, but  there  has  been  handed  down  no 
sucbj  historical  record  or  collection  of  his 


writings  as  we  have  of  his  colleagues, 
Confucius  and  Mencius.  His  religion, 
Taoism,  has  at  all  times  exerted  a  pro- 
found influence  on  China's  history,  1> 
has  never  stood  with  the  continue 
strength  of  Confucianism.  Some  mo 
archs  were  entirely  under  its  sway,  whi 
others  decreed  death  to  all  who  followed 
it.  The  original  Taoism  was  perverted 
and  changed,  it  was  even  assimilated  by 
the  Buddhism  of  China,  for  this  variety 
is  a  corrupted  branch  of  the  old  Indian 
stock.  There  was  much  in  the  early 
Taoism  that  suggested .  thoughts  and 
ideas  akin  to  Christianity.  The  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  was  partially  pictured, 
though  in  a  material,  rather  than  in  a 
spiritual,  sense.  In  later  days  Taoism 
became  the  superstitious  theory  of  ma- 
gicians and  of  kings  wrho  would  seek 
perpetual  life  through  extraordinary 
elixirs  and  decoctions.  Today  it  has 
many  astute  and  devoted  followers,  but 
it  is  decadent  as  a  religion  and  has  ]>. 
long  ago  the  day  of  its  influence  and 
power  among  the  great  religions  of 
world. 

THE   IMPORTATION  OF  BUDDHISM 
FROM  INDIA 

Buddhism  in  China  is  a  transplant 
product.  It  was  brought  from  India  a 
a  sprig  of  one  fruit  might  be  grafted 
on  the  tree  of  another  Buddhism  was 
grafted,  in  a  measure,  on  Confucianism. 
It  would  never  have  thrived  in  China  if 
Confucianism  had  been  an  actual  reli- 
gion like  Christianity  or  if  Confucius 
had  been  an  inspired  being  like  Christ. 

Sixty  years  after  the  crucifixion  of 
Jesus  Christ  the  Kmperor  Ming-ti,  of 
the  Han  dynasty,  dreaming  of  a  gigantic 
image  of  gold,  dispatched  an  embassy 
to  India  to  find  a  new  religion.  They 
returned  with  Buddhism.  The  doctrine 
of  the  transmigration  of  souls  delighted 
the  mighty  Ming-ti.  The  rewards  and 
punishments  it  outlined  seemed  reason- 
able, and  the  possibilities  it  pictured  of 


CHINA:    HER    HISTORY   AND   DEVELOPMENT      215 


a  future  life  supplied  to  him  and  his 
people  what  was  lacking  in  Confucian- 
ism. Ming-ti  was  a  practical,  business- 
like monarch  and  went  about  the  prop- 
agation of  Buddhism  as  he  did  the  pro- 
mulgation of  new  laws  and  the  collection 
of  additional  taxes.  In  that  way  it  was 
given  an  impetus  that  enabled  it  to 
spread  throughout  all  China.  It  un- 
doubtedly tended  to  raise  the  moral 
standard  of  the  people  and  nation,  and 
hence  was  a  direct  influence  on  the 
growth  of  the  kingdom.  The  Buddhism 
of  today  in  China  bears  little  resemblance 
to  the  purer  Buddhism  of  Ceylon  or 
Siam. 

The  King  of  Siam,  who  is  the  ex  officio 
head  of  the  Buddhist  church  of  the 
world  and  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
progressive  statesmen  in  Asia,  often  told 
me  while  I  \vas  the  American  Minister 
at  his  court,  that  the  Buddhism  of  China 
was  such  only  in  name  and  was  inex- 
tricably mixed  writh  Taoism  and  Confu- 
cianism. The  Chinese  emigrant  to  Siam 
is  at  home  in  its  Buddhist  temples,  but 
the  Siamese  who  goes  to  China  is  not  at 
home  in  Chinese  temples. 

There  is  a  passing  thought  in  this  con- 
nection that  almost  staggers  us.  Sup- 
posing Emperor  Ming-ti's  embassy  in 
search  of  a  religion  had  journeyed  to 
Palestine  instead  of  to  India  and  brought 
back  Christianity?  It  taxes  the  imagina- 
tion to  picture  the  effect  on  China,  on 
Asia,  and  on  the  world  at  large,  if  it 
had  come  in  its  purity.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  are  forced  to  ask  with  equal 
astonishment  at  the  possibilities  :  What 
would  have  been  the  effect  on  Chris- 
tianity if  it  had  been  taken  in  those 
early  days  by  the  Chinese  as  their  offi- 
cial religion  ? 

THE  COMING  AND   EXPULSION  OF 
CHRISTIANITY 

But  Chistianity  did  come  to  China 
long  before  the  day  of  modern  mission- 
aries. Christianity  wras  taught  and  fos- 
tered for  one  hundred  and  fiftv  vears 


during  the  middle  ages  of  China,  be- 
tween 600  and  800  A.  D.  The  Nesto- 
rians,  who  taught  the  new  religion  to 
China,  thrived  for  nearly  two  centuries, 
or  until  781  A.  D.  About  1625  A.  D. 
the  famous  Nestorian  monument  was 
unearthed  in  the  province  of  Shensi. 
Williams,  in  his  "Middle  Kingdom," 
holds  that  the  Nestorians  came  as  early 
as  500  A.  D.  He  says  that  the  monu- 
ment is  ' '  the  only  record  yet  found  in 
China  itself  of  the  labors  of  the  Nesto- 
rians, ' '  and  yet  it  is  one  of  the  most 
perfect  of  the  ancient  monuments  of 
China.  The  inscription  tells  us  that  a 
priest  named  Olopun  came  from  the 
distant  west,  guided  by  the  "azure 
clouds"  of  China,  bringing  with  him 
the  "  True  Scriptures."  The  emperor, 
one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  Tang 
dynasty,  gave  him  a  cordial  reception 
and  ordered  the  Scriptures  translated 
and  promulgated.  In  an  official  edict  he 
said  :  "  Let  it  have  free  course  through 
the  empire." 

Unfortunately  for  its  lasting  influence 
it  came  under  the  ban  which  the  Taoists, 
about  A.  D.  850,  proclaimed  against 
Buddhism  through  the  agency  of  an 
hostile  emperor.  The  effort  to  crush 
the  Buddhists  included  the  Nestorians, 
and  only  the  monument  remains.  If 
sufficient  time  had  passed  for  Chris- 
tianity to  have  spread  itself  as  had 
Buddhism,  this  one  attack  would  not 
have  ended  its  life  in  Cathay  until 
again  revived  by  American  and  Euro- 
pean missionaries.  It  is  an  interesting 
coincident  that  the  Nestorians  were  ap- 
parently most  severely  persecuted  in 
the  same  section  of  China  where  many 
American  and  European  missionaries 
were  recently  massacred. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  religions 
I  would  add,  in  response  to  the  general 
inquiry  about  missionary  work,  that  I 
honestly  believe,  after  six  years'  expe- 
rience in  Asia  in  both  official  and  private 
capacities,  and  after  spending  much  time 
in  China,  not  only  along  the  coast,  but 


216         THE  NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


in  the  distant  interior,  that  the  mission- 
aries are  doing  far  more  good  than  harm, 
and  that  they  should  have  the  moral 
support  of  the  American  people  in  the 
continuance  of  their  labors. 

There  are  incompetent  missionaries 
as  there  are  inconipetent  business  men. 
They  have  faults.  These  should  and 
will  be  corrected  and  the  work  will  go 
on.  Missionaries  will  be  a  help  and  not 
a  hindrance  in  the  regeneration  of  China. 
The  commercial  spirit  leading  to  ruthless 
territorial  aggrandizement,  manifested 
by  the  European  powers,  must  bear  the 
responsibility  for  the  Boxer  outbreak  as 
much  as  the  zeal  of  missionary  evan- 
gelization. 

Such  men  as  Li  Hung  Chang,  Sheng 
Liu  Kin  Yi,  and  Chang  Chi  Tung  have 
told  me  unofficially  that  they  had  no 
objection  to  Christian  missionary  work 
where  it  was  carried  on  by  worthy  men, 
but  complained  that  too  often  indiscreet 
and  incompetent  men  were  in  charge  who 
excited  hostilities  and  caused  trouble  for 
the  majority  of  the  missionaries  who 
were  qualified  and  successful. 

This  discussion  of  religions,  into  which 
I  have  gone  to  some  length,  although 
cursorily,  began  with  a  consideration  of 
the  character  of  the  teachings  of  Con- 
fucius, who  lived  in  the  illustrious  Chow 
Dynasty  period.  From  the  date  of  its 
ending,  in  255  B.  C.,  we  pass  on  rap- 
idly down  through  the  long  historical 
corridor  of  succeeding  and  changing 
Chinese  dynasties.  Some  we  admire  ; 
some  we  abhor.  Some  we  praise  ;  some 
we  decry,  but  it  is  the  same  old  story  of 
ups  and  downs,  great  and  little  men, 
good  and  bad  men,  until  we  grow  almost 
weary  of  the  tale,  and  are  constantly 
reminded  that  in  the  dim  future  these 
present  days  of  critical  negotiations  at 
Pekin  may  seem  of  little  importance. 
Let  us  hope  that  their  conclusion  and 
results  may  warrant  a  higher  measure 
of  praise  than  we  can  bestow  on  many 
of  the  crises  of  the  limitless  but  fascinat- 
ing past. 


THE  GREAT  WALL 

During  the  Tsin  dynasty,  which  su< 
ceeded  the  Chows,  the  major  portion 
the  great  wall  of  China  was  construct 
This  was  approximately  240  B.  C.,  bu 
some  250  or  300  miles  of  the  wall  \\x-rc 
added  nearly  18  centuries  later,  in  1547 
A.  D. ,  by  an  emperor  of  the  celebrated 
Ming  dynasty.  Let  us  remember  what 
this  means.  A  wall  begun  at  one  time 
two  centuries  before  Christ  was  com- 
pleted nearly  sixteen  centuries  after 
Christ.  Can  anything  better  illustra 
the  great  age  and  astonishing  conserva- 
tism of  China  than  this  simple  record  ? 
What  are  the  sixty  years  of  China's 
present  modern  foreign  relations— one 
cycle  of  Cathay — in  comparison  with 
these  eighteen  centuries  which  history 
tosses  up  and  off  for  our  study  as  if 
only  eighteen  days  ! 

The  builder  of  the  wall  was,  however, 
a  great  man.  Some  call  him  the  Xa- 
poleon  of  Asia.  Chung  was  his  name, 
or  Hwang-ti,  as  he  called  himself.  He 
built  magnificent  palaces,  constructed 
roads,  dug  canals,  and  did  all  in  his 
power  to  make  his  kingdom  mighty  and 
prosperous,  but  was  guilty  of  one  un- 
pardonable offense.  Wishing  to  go  dow 
to  posterity  as  the  first  king  of  Chin 
he  ordered  the  destruction  of  all  the  ol 
records  and  libraries,  and  decapitated 
hundreds  of  scholars.  For  this  he  \vas 
never  forgiven  by  the  Chinese  people, 
and  few  praises  are  now  sung  in  his 
honor.  Fortunately  for  China  sufficient 
records  were  preserved,  and  literary  men 
survived  to  replace  later  the  destroyed 
records,  legends,  and  histories.  He  was 
succeeded  by  the  Han  dynasty,  which 
held  sway  from  206  B.  C.  to  225  A.  D. 

RELATIONS  WITH  THE  ROMANS 

The  Han  dynasty,  that  started  before 
the  Christian  era  and  reigned  into  it  <  >ver 
two  centuries,  saw  the  first  commercial 
relations  established  with  the  Roman 


CHINA:    HER    HISTORY   AND   DEVELOPMENT      217 


Empire.  The  latter  even  sent  an  em- 
bassy to  China,  and  presents  were  ex- 
changed. Ptolemy  and  Pliny  wrote  of 
the  Seres,  a  name  which  described  the 
Chinese  ;  and  China  was  distinguished 
at  times  far  apart  by  Sin,  Chin,  and 
Sinae.  ' '  The  reign  of  the  Seres  was  a 
vas.,  populous  country,  touching  on  the 
east  the  ocean  and  the  limits  of  the  hab- 
itable world,  and  extending  west  nearly 
to  Imaus  and  the  confines  of  Bactria," 
says  Yule,  adding,  ' '  It  seems  probable 
that  relations  existed  from  the  earliest 
times  between  China  and  India,  and  pos- 
sibly, too,  between  China  and  Chaldea. 
The  '  Sinim  '  of  the  prophet  Isaiah  is  by 
many  taken  to  mean  China,  and  the 
Ptolemy s  '  Sinae  '  are  generally  under- 
stood to  have  been  the  Chinese. ' ' 

In  the  forty-ninth  chapter,  twelfth 
verse,  the  great  prophet  says,  ' '  Behold, 
they  shall  come  from  far:  and,  lo,  these 
from  the  north  and  from  the  west ;  and 
these  from  the  land  of  Sinim.'' 

I  referred  to  the  honesty  of  the  Chi- 
nese ;  that  same  story  was  told  in  Europe 
twenty  centuries  ago.  Therefore  the 
reputation  of  the  Chinese  for  integrity, 
in  spite  of  all  that  is  said  against  them, 
has  some  good  foundation.  Justinian 
was  the  next  great  western  writer  who 
discussed  the  Chinese  ;  and  then  Marco 
Polo,  returning  from  the  magnificent 
court  and  mighty  empire  of  the  imperial 
conqueror  Kublai  Khan  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  awoke  the  world  to  its  first 
actual  appreciation  of  the  extent  and 
power  of  Cathay. 

The  Roman  Empire  was  often  de- 
scribed by  early  Chinese  historians  as  a 
nation  with  which  China  enjoyed  trade 
exchange.  The  land  of  Tatsin-Kwoh 
was  the  name  of  this  European  kingdom 
in  Chinese  terminology. 

While  Rome  was  in  the  height  of  her 
glory  and  preparing  the  way  for  her 
downfall  the  Han  dynasty  was  sailing 
on  the  flood  tide  of  prosperity,  great 
wars,  territorial  aggrandizement,  and 
splendid  material  progress.  When  we 


consider  that  such  an  eventful  period  is 
included  in  the  records  of  Chinese  his- 
tory, we  wonder  that  we  have  not  given 
it  more  attention  in  our  study  of  former 
civilizations.  In  those  days  we  are  told 
that  temples  and  palaces  were  erected 
larger  and  grander  than  those  of  con- 
temporaneous Rome  and  Greece;  canals 
were  dug  of  sufficient  depth  to  float  pon- 
derous junks ;  walls  were  built  that 
reached  over  high  mountain  tops;  roads 
were  opened  that  connected  capitals  and 
trade  centers  ;  wars  were  waged  that 
killed  millions  of  men,  and  peace  and 
strife  alternated  from  decade  to  decade. 
There  was  bloody  civil  contention  among 
the  feudal  chieftains  at  one  time,  and 
then  again  a  war  of  the  entire  united 
empire  against  a  foreign  enemy.  The 
present  Boxer  uprising  would  have  been 
treated  in  those  martial  days  as  an  amus- 
ing incident,  and  no  foreigner  would 
have  been  spared  to  tell  the  tale  and 
write  lurid  accounts  for  the  magazines. 
The  contemplation  of  China's  won- 
derful past  suggests  at  once  the  ques- 
tion, Why,  if  such  great  deeds  were 
done  and  such  splendid  buildings,  pal- 
aces, and  roads  were  constructed,  are 
there  not  more  tangible  evidences  re- 
maining of  these  and  later  glorious 
periods?  The  answer  is  simple  and 
conclusive.  First,  every  new  emperor, 
or  the  founder  of  each  new  dynasty, 
who  was  not  friendly  to  his  predecessor 
seemed  prompted  by  an  immediate  and 
overwhelming  desire  to  destroy  all  the 
signs  of  his  predecessor's  work  and 
power,  and  proceeded  to  raze  not  only 
to  the  ground  but  obliterate  all  monu- 
ments of  former  glory.  Secondly,  there 
are  remaining,  even  against  such  ad- 
verse conditions,  more  monuments  of 
the  past  than  are  generally  remembered 
in  a  discussion  of  this  subject,  such  as 
the  great  wall,  the  Ming  tombs,  the 
Temple  of  Heaven,  the  Grand  Canal, 
paved  roads,  great  arched  bridges,  por- 
celain pagodas,  and  numerous  lesser 
signs,  like  the  Nestorian  Monument. 


218         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


Students  of  China  will  await,  more- 
over, the  new  life  in  the  empire  and  the 
opening  of  the  interior  in  the  hope  that 
excavations  in  interior  cities  and  the 
bringing  to  light  of  old  records  may  tell 
us  more  than  we  now  know  and  better 
explain  and  illustrate  the  conditions  of 
the  dazzling  past. 

China's  famous  competitive  examina- 
tions were  begun  under  the  Hans ;  a 
penal  code,  the  model  of  all  subsequent 
ones,  was  drawn  up,  and,  as  before  re- 
corded, Buddhism  was  first  introduced 
from  India.  The  limits  of  the  empire 
were  extended  until  under  the  Western 
and  Eastern  Han  dynasties  they  in- 
cluded Szechuan,  Yunnan,  and  Fukien. 

Romance  tells  its  story  of  these  times 
in  the  great  Chinese  historical  novel 
entitled  "The  History  of  the  Three 
States,"  which  immortalizes  in  a  halo 
of  glory  that  period,  which  was  at  its 
height  about  three  centuries  after  the 
birth  of  Christ.  Every  Chinese  delights 
in  this  graphic  story  of  valorous  deeds. 

We  now  pause  at  the  threshold  of  the 
illustrious  Tang  dynasty,  that  shaped 
Chinese  destinies  for  three  hundred 
years,  A.  D.  618-907.  To  reach  this 
period  we  pass  the  Tsin  and  Eastern 
Tsin  dynasties,  that  succeeded  the  Hans 
and  ruled  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
with  another  group  of  fifteen  monarchs. 
A  few  lesser  dynasties  followed,  and 
then  the  first  Tang  began  his  beneficent 
sway.  During  this  dynasty  Korea  be- 
came an  acknowledged  dependency  of 
China,  Siam  sent  tribute-bearers,  and 
Persia  sought  aid  from  the  Chinese  Em- 
peror in  a  war  with  other  lands.  It 
was  one  of  the  Tangs  that  welcomed 
the  Nestorians.  The  canal  system  of 
China  was  extended,  libraries  were 
built,  schools  opened,  and  the  people 


were  occupied  peacefully  and  happily 
with  agricultural  pursuits  for  unusually 
long  periods.  The  Hanlin  Library  and 
College  was  founded  in  755,  the  writings 
of  Confucius  were  newly  annotated  and 
revised,  and  poets,  essayists,  and  histo- 
rians thronged  the  courts  of  the  em- 
perors in  place  of  eunuchs  and  concu- 
bines. But  if  preceding  dynasties  had 
been  disgraced  with  beautiful  and  dis- 
solute but  powerful  women,  who  con- 
trolled the  empire  by  controlling  their 
emperors  and  ministers,  the  Tangs  had 
likewise  the  cruel  and  immoral  but  brill- 
iant and  able  Empress  Wu.  She  ruled 
China  with  a  rod  of  iron  and  to  the 
benefit  of  the  people  for  fifty-four  years. 

Arab  travelers  who  visited  China  in 
those  days  returned  with  stories  of  cop- 
per money,  rice  wine,  and  the  use  of  tea 
as  a  beverage.  Envoys  of  the  Pope  at 
this  period  sought  to  know  more  of 
China,  and  Mohammedanism  also  then 
first  gained  extensive  entrance  into 
China  and  became  a  factor  in  its  devel- 
opment. 

Looking  to  Europe,  we  find  that  Eng- 
land was  then  divided  among  the  Saxon 
princes,  and  France  and  Germany  were 
in  that  chaotic  state  which  preceded  the 
reign  of  Charlemagne.  The  discovery 
of  printing  is  ascribed  to  this  period,  or 
about  A.  D.  581,  nine  centuries  before 
Caxton  introduced  printing  into  Eng- 
land. In  the  siege  of  Tai-yuen,  in  the 
eighth  century,  gunpowder  was  used  in 
cannon  that  threw  1 2-pound  stone  shot 
some  300  paces.  After  twenty  emperors 
had  reigned  and  China  began  to  see.  the 
approach  of  a  modern  period  of  history, 
the  Tang  dynasty  ended  with  a  desolate 
land,  ruined  towns,  and  the  capital  razed 
to  the  ground  by  fire  and  vandal  con- 
querors. 


(  To  be  concluded  in  the  July  number) 


THE   DIKES   OF   HOLLAND 

BY  GERARD   H.  MATTHES,  UNITED  STATES  GEOLOGICAL 

SURVEY 


TO  obtain  an  idea  of  the  important 
role  the  dikes  have  played  in 
the  development  of  the  Nether- 
lands, and  of  the  problems  with  which 
the  inhabitants  of  that  country  have  had 
to  contend,  it  is  necessary  in  the  first 
place  to  understand  how  the  soil  of  the 
Netherlands  was  formed,  and  what  the 
peculiar  conditions  are  that  have  ren- 
dered the  existence  of  this  unique  little 
country  possible.  A  few  words  concern- 
ing the  geology  of  the  region,  which 
dates  back  to  a  time  by  no  means  re- 
mote, will  therefore  be  of  interest. 

Geologically  speaking,  a  large  portion 
of  the  Netherlands  may  be  said  to  have 
been  formed  only  yesterday.  This  por- 
tion, which  comprises  the  western  and 
most  interesting  half  of  the  kingdom, 
owes  its  origin  to  the  alluvial  deposits 
brought  there  by  three  large  rivers — the 
Rhine,  the  Meuse,  and  the  Schelde — 
the  estuaries  of  which  unite  to  form 
what  at  first  glance  appears  to  be  a  delta. 
The  large  amount  of  sediment  discharged 
by  these  rivers,  together  with  the  action 
of  tides  and  currents  in  the  North  Sea, 
were  the  primary  causes  of  the  forma- 
tion of  extensive  series  of  sandbanks 
and  bars  off  the  coast,  and  as  these 
banks  grew  higher  and  finally  became 
exposed  to  the  action  of  the  wind  at 
times  of  low  water,  there  came  into  ex- 
istence sandhills,  commonly  known  as 
dunes.  The  coast  in  those  days  partook 
much  of  the  nature  of  a  ' '  haff , ' '  such 
as  is  found  today  on  the  German  coast 
on  the  Baltic  Sea,  or  along  our  own 
coast,  notably  at  Pamlico  and  Albemarle 
Sounds.  A  long  tongue  of  land  running 
parallel  with  the  coast  inclosed  a  body 
of  shallow  water  into  which  discharged 


the  three  rivers.  It  is  natural  to  sup- 
pose that  after  the  formation  of  this 
haff,  sedimentation  progressed  rapidly. 
Heavy  deposits  of  clay  gathered  in  its 
quiet  waters,  and  later,  as  the  haff  grew 
more  shallow  and  aquatic  vegetation  be- 


rȣ  t/CTt/CRLAtfOS 


came  luxurious,  extensive  marshes  came 
into  existence,  and  the  great  peat  beds 
which  cover  so  large  a  part  of  the  area 
of  Holland  at  the  present  day  were 
formed. 

Interesting  as  are  the  successive  steps 
in  the  formation  of  the  country  during 
those  early  days,  space  will  not  permit 
here  to  treat  of  them  at  length.  Suffice 
it  to  be  said  that  after  the  general  level 
of  the  deposits  had  reached  that  of  the 
sea,  there  arose  vast  forests,  which  at  one 
time  covered  almost  the  entire  country 


22O         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


of  the  Netherlands.  The  rivers  found 
their  way  to  the  ocean  through  numerous 
tortuous  channels,  but  there  remained  in 
the  center  of  the  country  a  small  lake, 
called  by  the  Romans  at  a  later  period 
"Lake  Flevo."  Thus  the  soil  of  the 
Netherlands,  having  been  formed  in  part 
by  alluvial  deposits  and  in  part  by  the 
formation  of  peat  beds,  cannot  be  called 
a  delta  formation,  in  the  strict  sense  of 
that  physiographic  term,  however  much 
its  appearance  in  a  general  way  may  re- 
semble that  of  a  delta. 

The  earliest  records  make  mention  of 
this  region  as  a  low,  marshy,  and  heavily 
timbered  area,  protected  against  the  tides 
of  the  North  Sea  by  ridges  of  sandhills, 
and  subject  to  flooding  by  both  fresh  and 
salt  waters. 

THE  FIRST  DIKE-BUILDERS  IN  HOL- 
LAND 

The  first  inhabitants  of  this  inhospita- 
ble region  were  nomadic  tribes  of  Ger- 
manic origin,  known  as  the  Catts  and 
the  Caninefates,  and  they  must  be  re- 
garded as  the  pioneers  of  dike-building. 
Though  dwelling  at  first  on  the  higher 
eastern  lands  of  older  formation,  it  is 
known  that  they  finally  settled  in  the 
lowlands,  where,  exposed  to  the  constant 
danger  of  inundations,  they  soon  learned 
to  protect  their  lives  and  property  by  the 
building  of  levees. 

Perhaps  Holland  in  those  days  was 
not  as  undesirable  a  piece  of  land  as  it 
might  prove  in  these  days.  At  any  rate, 
as  early  as  400  years  before  the  com- 
mencement of  this  era,  the  Romans  had 
begun  its  conquest,  and  were  undertak- 
ing a  number  of  improvements,  the  mag- 
nitude of  wrhich  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the 
value  they  put  on  their  new  acquisi- 
tion. About  10  B.  C.  the  Roman  general 
Claudius  Drusus,  in  order  to  relieve  the 
Rhine  of  a  part  of  its  burden,  connected 
it  with  the  Ijsel  by  means  of  an  artificial 
canal,  which  may  safely  be  said  to  have 
been  the  first  canal  dug  by  the  hand  of 


man  in  Holland.  According  to  Tacitus, 
the  Roman  general  Germanicus,  a  son 
of  Drusus,  is  said  to  have  transported 
his  army  down  the  canal  on  floats  con- 
structed with  the  timber  cut  from  the 
forests.  Again,  history  tells  us  that  the 
same  general  Drusus  caused  a  levee  to 
be  built  along  the  middle  arm  of  the 
Rhine,  in  order  to  protect  the  province 
then  called  Bat- Aue  ( ' '  good  land  ' ' ) 
against  the  inundations  caused  in  spring 


The  Netherlands  of  Today  and  the 
State  of  Ohio  compared 

by  ice  jams  on  the  rivers.  This  same 
levee  was  completed  some  years  later  by 
general  Paulinius  Pompeus,  and  ex- 
tended to  the  mouth  of  the  Rhine  at 
Katwijk,  where  there  existed  a  gap  in 
the  dunes  through  which  the  Rhine  dis- 
charged into  the  sea. 

At  some  distance  from  its  mouth,  on 
the  inland  side  of  the  dunes,  the  Romans 
constructed  a  large  castle,  known  as 
Castle  te  Britten,  and  on  an  island  in  the 
estuary  they  erected  a  light-house,  which 
bore  the  name  of  General  Caligula.  The 
castle  is  of  interest  because  from  the 
present  location  of  its  ruins  important 


THE    DIKES   OF    HOLLAND 


22  i 


conclusions  may  be  drawn  as  to  the  shift- 
ing of  the  dunes.  After  having  been 
sacked  and  burned  by  the  Batavians,  re- 
built again  and  destroyed  once  more  by 
the  Normans  at  a  later  date,  the  ruins 
of  the  castle  were  during  the  eighth  and 
ninth  centuries  gradually  covered  by  the 
shifting  sands  of  the  dunes,  which  were 
slowly  being  transplanted  landward  by 
the  winds.  The  ruins  disappeared  and 
had  been  forgotten,  when  suddenly,  after 
the  severe  storm  of  Christmas,  1520, 
they  reappeared  once  more,  but  on  the 
beach  west  of  the  dunes.  Since  that 
time  they  have  in  the  course  of  centuries 
repeatedly  been  denuded  and  covered  up 
again,  and  at  the  present  day  lie  sub- 
merged in  the  sea. 

RECESSION  OF  THE  COAST  LINE 

[t  has  been  estimated  from  these  facts 
that  the  dunes  near  Katwijk  have  mi- 
grated east  a  distance  of  two  miles  in 
about  eighteen  centuries.  At  other 
points  along  the  western  coast  of  Hol- 
land this  receding  movement  has 
amounted  to  as  much  as  six  and  seven 
miles  during  the  same  period. 

It  was  not  easy  to  put  a  stop  to  this 
alarming  recession  of  the  coast  and  con- 
sequent loss  of  land,  together  with  the 
destruction  of  numerous  flourishing  vil- 
lages. It  has  been  permanently  effected, 
however,  by  planting  on  the  seaward 
side  of  the  dunes  a  species  of  grass 
{Arundo  arenacea),  known  in  Holland 
as  ' '  Helm. ' '  This  plant  can  sustain 
itself  very  readily  in  the  finest  and 
purest  of  sands  by  means  of  extraordi- 
narily long  and  intricate  roots,  and  is 
therefore  well  qualified  to  counteract 
the  shifting  of  sand.  The  grass  is 
planted  by  hand  in  tufts  not  quite  two 
feet  apart,  aligned  in  rows.  That  this 
was  a  laborious  piece  of  work  needs  no 
demonstration,  when  it  is  borne  in  mind 
that  there  extend  along  the  coast  of 
Holland  a  chain  of  dunes  of  a  total 
length  of  200  miles,  varying  in  width 


from  400  yards  to  three  miles,  while  the 
elevations  range  from  60  to  200  feet 
above  sea-level.  In  other  places  forest 
growth  has  been  started  on  the  dunes 
lying  further  inland,  and  the  results 
have  been  very  gratifying. 

1,500  SQUARE  MILES  OF  LAND  SUB- 
MERGED IN  THE  INTERIOR  AND  THE 
FORMATION  OF  ZUIDER  ZFE 

The  retrogression  of  the  dunes  was  a 
source  of  alarm;  yet,  on  account  of  its 
slowness,  the  movement  had  not  at  first 
made  itself  manifest.  Very  serious 
changes  had  taken  place,  however,  in 
the  interior  within  a  comparatively 
short  period.  Furious  storms  in  the 
North  Sea  during  the  years  693,  782, 
839,  and  again  in  1170,  1230,  and  1237 
had  caused  a  washing  away  of  large 
sections  of  peat  land  situated  between 
Lake  Flevo  and  the  North  Sea.  This 
wholesale  destruction  of  land  culmi- 
nated in  1250,  1287,  and  1295,  when 
during  the  spring  tides  of  those  years 
Lake  Flevo  had  become  an  inlet  of  the 
North  Sea.  It  is  estimated  that  this 
loss  amounted  to  nearly  1,500  square 
miles  of  land,  and  submerged  a  number 
of  flourishing  villages.  Heavy  dikes 
were  then  built,  inclosing  the  so-formed 
Zuider  Zee,  except  at  such  points  where 
it  communicated  with  other  bodies  of 
water,  in  order  to  check  all  further  en- 
croachments on  the  land.  Its  form  has 
since  been  practically  the  same  as  now 
appears  on  our  maps. 

With  the  advent  of  the  fourteenth 
century  began  a  period  of  active  dike- 
building  in  Holland.  Not  only  the 
Zuider  Zee  had  swallowed  much  rich, 
arable  land,  but  many  of  the  interior 
bodies  of  water,  at  times  of  storms,  were 
making  similar  trouble,  and  inundations 
caused  by  the  large  rivers  were  frequent. 
Obviously,  as  the  country  became  more 
closely  settled  and  land  became  more 
valuable,  every  new" inundation  caused 
more  loss  of  life  and  property  than  had 


222         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


previous  inundations.  These  catastro- 
phes, attended  with  the  loss  of  thou- 
"  sands  and  thousands  of  lives,  fill  many 
a  sad  page  in  the  history  of  the  country. 
Dike-building  became  a  serious  matter 
and  began  to  receive  the  attention  which 
it  had  long  needed.  Flimsy  dikes  and 
levees  were  gradually  transformed  into 
heavier  structures,  and  the  physical  out- 
lines of  the  Netherlands  were  thus  ren- 
dered more  permanent  and  may  be  said 
to  have  suffered  little  change  since  that 
time. 

The  province  of  North  Holland  about 
the  year  1288,  although  extensively  pro- 
tected by  numerous  dikes,  was  dissected 
by  bodies  of  water  of  all  sizes,  such  as  the 
Schermer,  the  Beemster,  the  Purmer.the 
Starnmeer,  the  lakes  west  of  Alkmaar, 
and   the   Langemeer,   connecting   with 
each  other,  and  also  with  the  Zuider  Zee 
at  several  points.     It  was  possible  in 
those  days  to  navigate  from  Amsterdam 
westward  through  the  I j ,  then  through 
the  lakes  mentioned,  and  return  by  way 
of  the  Zuider  Zee,  without  finding  an 
obstacle  in  the  form  of  a  dike,  or  as  much 
as  a  lock.     With  the  expansion  of  Lake 
Flevo  into  a  wide-mouthed  inlet  of  the 
North  Sea,   the  action  of  the  dreaded 
tides  and  storms  of  the  latter  were  car- 
ried into  the  very  heart  of  the  country, 
thereby  raising  considerably  the  levels  in 
the  lakes  before  mentioned  and  threat- 
ening new  inundations.    To  remedy  this 
dangerous  situation,  the  three  channels 
connecting  the  lakes  with  the  Zuider  Zee 
were  closed  by  means  of  heavy  dams 
during  the   years    1311-1400.     In   the 
main,  however,  the  aspect  of  the  coun- 
try  changed   little   between    1288    and 
1575.     Before  the  beginning  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century  there  probably  was  felt 
little  need  of  securing  additional  arable 
land ;  possibly  pecuniary  difficulties  for- 
bade the  expenditure  of  the  large  sums 
required   for   draining   the   lakes,    and 
more   likely   difficulties   of   a  technical 
nature  stood  in  the  way.     At  any  rate, 
the  lakes  drained  during  the  fifteenth 


and  sixteenth  centuries  were  few  in 
number.  About  the  middle  of  the  fif- 
teenth century  windmills  for  raising 
water  were  coming  into  use  in  Holland. 
These  were  at  first  of  a  primitive  char- 
acter and  of  low  power,  but  they  \\x-re 
applied  to  the  pumping  out  of  lakes  in 
process  of  reclamation. 

RECLAIMING  THE  LAND 

The  great  period  for  reclaiming  land, 
however,  did  not  begin  until  the  early 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  at  a 
time  when  prosperity  returned  in  Hol- 
land and  great  enterprises  of  divers  char- 
acter were  begun.  With  the  revived 
interest  in  agriculture  and  cattle-raising, 
the  rich  soils  covered  by  the  lakes  be- 
came valuable,  and  every  effort  was 
made  to  drain  them  or  to  keep  them 
within  the  smallest  limits.  This  became 
urgent  for  the  further  reason  that  new 
lakes  were  constantly  being  created  by 
the  digging  away  of  the  peat  for  fuel. 
Between  the  years  1607  and  1643  six- 
teen lakes  were  permanently  drained, 
adding  to  the  territory  of  the  'Nether- 
lands, within  the  space  of  36  years,  an 
area  of  91  square  miles,  or  nearly  60,000 
acres. 

All  these  lakes  were  drained  with  the 
aid  of  windmills.  A  lake  was  first  in- 
closed by  a  dike  to  cut  it  off  from  sin  - 
rounding  bodies  of  water.  This  work 
was  always  of  a  difficult  nature,  con- 
suming much  time  and  money,  as  it 
frequently  happened  that  during  some 
storm  the  dike  gave  way.  The  inclos- 
ing dike  once  completed,  the  windmills, 
constructed  in  the  meantime,  commenced 
draining  off  the  water  into  adjacent  wa- 
terways. These  latter  were  properly 
connected  with  each  other  to  keep  up 
the  navigation  in  that  section  of  the 
country  and  to  carry  off  the  water 
pumped  out  of  the  lake.  Such  a  sys- 
tem of  communicating  waterways  and 
canals  is  collectively  known  as  a 
"bosom,"  and  they  in  their  turn  dis- 


THE   DIKES   OF    HOLLAND 


223 


charge  the  surplus  water  into  the  sea  at 
times  of  low  tide,  while  at  times  of  high 
tide  they  are  closed  by  means  of  locks. 
Even  after  the  lake  had  been  drained 
the  same  system  was  preserved,  only 
less  windmills  being  required  to  keep 
the  lake  bottom  dry.  In  general,  any 
section  of  land  artificially  drained,  and 
known  in  the  Dutch  language  as  a 
' '  polder, ' '  has  a  ' '  bosom  ' '  surrounding 
it,  into  which  is  delivered  by  the  wind- 
mills all  the  water  that  collects  in  the 
polder.  The  polder,  for  this  reason,  is 
intersected  by  a  network  of  ditches,  care- 
fully spaced  and  graded  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  drain  the  surplus  moisture  from 
the  soil  and  conduct  it  to  the  windmills. 
The  amount  ot  ditching  required  to  ac- 


complish this  as  a  rule  covers  an  area 
equivalent  to  one-twelfth  of  the  total 
area  to  be  drained.  Thus  the  Holland- 
ers not  only  keep  their  polders  dry,  but 
provide  at  the  same  time  ample  means 
for  navigation,  the  main  canals  and 
ditches  being  from  25  to  40  feet  in 
width. 

Before  the  invention  of  the  steam- 
engine,  windmills  were  exclusively  em- 
ployed in  the  work  of  draining  the 
polders,  but  as  the  power  of  a  windmill 
is  rather  limited,  the  lift  was  as  a  rule 
inconsiderable.  In  later  years,  when 
deeper  lakes  were  drained,  either  steam- 
engines  or  series  of  windmills  placed  at 
successive  levels  had  to  be  resorted  to. 
Thus  at  the  time  of  the  reclamation  of 


Successive  Enlargements  of  Haarlem  Lake 


224 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


the  Beemster  49  mills  were  constructed, 
disposed  as  follows  :  1 1  series  of  4  mills 
each,  i  series  of  3  mills,  and  i  series  of 
2  mills.  The  work  was  commenced  in 
1608,  when  the  dike  was  constructed, 
and  the  draining  begun  in  1612.  The 
cost  of  this  work  amounted  to  $760,000, 
the  total  surface  thus  reclaimed  being 
17,720  acres. 

THE  DRAINING  OF  HAARLEM  LAKE 

Since  the  invention  of  the  steam- 
engine  works  of  a  greater  magnitude 
were  entered  upon.  Prominent  among 
the  latter  is  the  draining  of  the  Haarlem 
Lake.  Originally  there  existed  in  this 
locality  four  small  lakes,  as  the  old  maps 
of  1531  show  us.  In  consequence  of 
successive  storms,  which  caused  the  de- 
struction of  the  adjacent  peat  lands,  the 
four  lakes  merged  into  one,  and  the  new 
lake  thus  formed  became  a  source  of 
much  anxiety.  With  the  increased  sur- 
face exposed  to  the  action  of  the  winds, 
the  waves  on  the  lake  became  more 
powerful,  and  large  sections  of  peat  land 
were  bodily  swept  away.  The  four  lakes 
in  1531  covered  an  area  of  22  square 
miles,  but  their  surface  nearly  doubled 
in  1591,  when  they  merged  together. 
In  1647  they  covered  56  square  miles  ; 
in  1687,  60  square  miles,  and  in  1848, 
65  square  miles,  or  three  times  their 
original  area.  When  during  a  storm  in 
the  fall  of  1836  the  city  of  Leiden  was 
flooded  by  the  waters  of  the  lake,  the 
situation  became  untenable  and  the  gov- 
ernment decided  to  drain  the  lake. 

Between  the  years  1840  and  1846  the 
lake  was  inclosed  by  a  dike  37  miles  in 
length.  Three  powerful  engines  were 
built  of  from  380  to  400  horse  power 
each,  the  largest  one  of  which  operated 
eleven  pumps  each  63  inches  in  diameter 
and  with  a  lift  exceeding  1 5  feet.  With 
the  aid  of  these  engines  the  lake,  which 
averaged  14  feet  in  depth,  was  pumped 
dry  during  the  years  1847  to  1852,  ex- 
posing 42,000* acres  of  excellent  arable 


land,  for  with  the  removal  of  the  peat 
by  the  storms  the  rich  alluvial  clay  un- 
derlying the  latter  had  been  laid  bare. 
The  government  has  felt  itself  amply  re- 
paid for  the  enormous  sum  of  $5,568,000 
which  was  expended  on  this  work.  The 
sale  of  land  yielded  a  revenue  of  $3, i 42- 
800,  and  indirectly  a  great  many  incal- 
culable advantages  have  been  derived 
from  it.  (See  map  on  preceding  page. ) 
The  last  of  the  great  works  of  this 
class  that  have  been  accomplished  is  the 
reclamation  of  the  Ij,  at  one  time  an  inlet 
of  the  Zuider  Zee,  and  the  construction 
of  the  large  canal  connecting  Amsterdam 
with  the  North  Sea.  This  work  was 
completed  in  1876  and  the  canal  opened 
to  navigation  on  November  i  of  that 
year.  Twenty-two  square  miles  of  ex- 
cellent land  were  thus  added  to  the 
kingdom.  Space  does  not  permit  here 
of  a  description  of  the  technical  difficul- 
ties that  were  overcome  in  the  construc- 
tion of  this  magnificent  canal,  through 
which  the  largest  sea-going  vessels  now 
pass  daily  on  their  way  to  and  from 
Amsterdam. 

LAND  RECLAIMED  FROM  THE  SEA 

Next  to  their  use  in  reclaiming  land 
covered  by  fresh  water,  the  dikes  have 
been  of  great  importance  in  reclaiming 
land  from  the  sea.  The  province  of 
Zeeland,  which  occupies  the  southwest- 
ern corner  of  the  Netherlands,  is  com- 
posed of  a  number  of  islands,  conspic- 
uous for  their  fine  agricultural  lands 
and  for  the  thrifty  populations  which 
they  support.  The  larger  part  of  this 
province  has  been  formed  by  the  hand 
of  man  out  of  the  numerous  shoals,  clay- 
banks,  and  sandbanks  that  existed  here 
centuries  ago.  The  archipelago  of  Zee- 
land,  as  well  as  some  of  the  islands  sit- 
uated to  the  north  of  it,  lie  scattered  in 
the  broad  estuaries  of  the  principal 
rivers,  and  are  consequently  entirely 
alluvial  formations.  The  fine  silt  car- 
ried in  suspension  by  the  rivers  was  de- 


THE    DIKES   OF    HOLLAND 


225 


ZEELAND  ABOUT  THE  YEAR  1200. 


posited,  building  up  the  claybanks  little 
by  little,  until  they  became  exposed  at 
low  water  in  the  shape  of  mudflats. 

As  early  as  the  year  1000  enterpris- 
ing individuals  had  begun  to  build  small 
levees  along  the  edges  of  these  flats,  in 
order  to  prevent  the  tides  from  washing 
over  them,  and  gradually  there  arose 
from  out  of  this  shallow  body  of  water 
a  number  of  islands,  the  nuclei  of  the 
present  archipelago.  As  the  banks  be- 
came larger,  built  up  by  the  river  de- 
posits, aided  by  artificial  devices  for 
catching  silt,  new  dikes  were  built  fur- 
ther out  into  the  sea,  and  the  islands 
grew  slowly  as  piece  after  piece  was 
added  to  them.  (See  diagrams,  p.  226. ) 


The  growth  of  these  islands  is  an  ad- 
mirable illustration  of  the  untiring  and 
steadfast  persistency  so  characteristic  of 
the  Dutch  people  ;  for  the  work  of  re- 
claiming land  from  the  capricious  North 
Sea  was  fraught  with  much  danger  and 
tribulation.  Again  and  again  during 
severe  storms  the  sea  broke  through  the 
dikes  and  invaded  the  land  acquired 
with  so  much  painstaking  labor,  and  in 
several  instances  areas  were  irrevocably 
lost.  It  must  be  remembered  that  this 
land  was  obtained  by  draining  the  water 
from  an  exceedingly  humid,  clay-like 
soil.  This  drying-out  process,  for  such 
it  really  was,  entailed  as  a  natural  result 
a  shrinkage  of  the  solid  materials,  which 


WESTVOORNE 
A. D.  1200 


GOEREE 

AND 

OVERFLAKKEE 


GOEREE 

AND 

OVERFLAKKEE 
A.D     I860. 


These  three  Diagrams  show  the  Enlargement  of  one  small  Mud  Flat 

to  ten  times  its  original  size 


THE    DIKES   OF    HOLLAND 


227 


in  many  places  has  been  very  consider- 
able. Lands  that  were  at  first  at  a  level 
with  tidewater  have  shrunk  in  the  course 
of  years  from  four  to  seven  feet,  until 
their  level  has  sunk  below  that  of  mean 
low  water.  When  the  sea  therefore  suc- 
ceeded in  flooding  such  low  areas,  the 
possibility  of  their  being  reclaimed  was 
practically  forever  ended.  The  shrink- 
age of  the  soil  has  manifested  itself 
throughout  Holland  wherever  clay  and 
peat  are  encountered.  It  is  therefore 
evident  that  the  level  of  the  land  of  the 
Holland  of  today  is  many  feet  lower 
than  it  was  at  the  time  of  the  Romans, 
rtien  the  first  dike  was  built.  The 
level  of  the  provinces  of  Zeeland  and 
Holland  ranges  between  two  and  six 
feet  below  mean  high  water,  while  that  of 
the  drained  areas  is  much  lower,  reach- 
ing a  depth  in  some  cases  of  20  feet  be- 
low mean  high  tide.  Reclaiming  land 
from  flats  in  shallow  waters  has  also  been 
practiced  in  the  northern  provinces  of 
Friesland  and  Groningen,  though  not  as 
extensively  as  in  Zeeland. 

THE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  DUTCH 
DIKES 

The  problem  of  building  dikes  in  a 
country  possessing  a  soil  which  offers 
so  little  choice  in  the  way  of  building 
material  as  does  Holland  is  to  any  one 
but  a  Dutchman  very  perplexing.  The 
country  has  not  a  single  quarry,  nor  is 
loose  rock  available;  the  few  woods  that 
exist  are  being  preserved  with  great 
care,  and  no  timber  can  be  cut  from 
them  for  lumbering  purposes.  All  that 
the  soil  of  Holland  offers  is  in  the  form  of 
sand,  gravel,  and  clay,  for  peat  is  worse 
than  useless  in  construction  works  ; 
and  not  only  are  the  available  materials 
poor,  but  suitable  foundations  upon 
which  to  erect  dikes  or,  for  that  matter, 
any  structures  whatever,  are  totally  ab- 
sent. This  is  the  problem  that  has  been 
solved  by  the  Dutch  engineers  through 
generations  and  generations  of  expe- 
rience. 


It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  paper 
to  describe  the  many  different  kinds  of 
dikes  in  use:  their  forms  vary  as  circum- 
stances require,  and  a  lengthy  discus- 
sion of  them  would  lead  into  endless 
technical  details.  In  brief,  the  princi- 
pal features  may  be  described  as  fol- 
lows : 

Compared  with  similar  structures  else- 
where, the  Holland  dikes  are  noteworthy 
for  their  great  width;  the  river  dikes 
are  built  with  a  crown,  usually  of  from 
15  to  20  feet  wide,  while  the  common 
type  of  the  Mississippi  levees  has  only  a 
crown  width  of  8  feet,  the  height  being 
about  the  same.  The  slopes  are  gentle, 
a  common  grade  on  the  water  side  being 
three  and  a  half  to  one,  and  on  the  land 
side  two  to  one.  A  characteristic  fea- 
ture of  the  Dutch  river  dikes  is  what  is 
technically  known  as  the  "banquette," 
a  sudden  widening  of  the  dike  near  its 
base,  which  serves  to  reinforce  the  dike, 
and  is  specially  designed  to  insure  im- 
perviousness  where  the  hydrostatic  pres- 
sure is  greatest.  The  banquettes  are 
built  on  either  side  of  the  dike,  and  vary 
in  width  from  10  to  30  feet.  The  larger 
river  dikes  range  in  height  between  10 
and  1 6  feet  above  the  adjacent  land, 
while  the  level  of  their  banquettes  is  8 
feet  below  the  top  of  the  dike. 

The  materials  used  in  their  construc- 
tion are  sand  and  clay,  and  in  the  case 
of  the  ordinary  dikes  the  water  side  is 
rendered  impervious  by  means  of  a  heavy 
layer  of  stiff  clay.  As  a  rule,  no  special 
preparations  are  made  for  the  founda- 
tions, except  where  the  soil  is  of  a  very 
treacherous  character,  when  fascine 
mattresses  laid  in  tiers  are  used,  in  very 
much  the  same  manner  as  along  the 
Mississippi.  Wherever  riprap  or  stone 
revetments  are  required,  as,  for  instance, 
on  the  sea  dikes,  where  the  erosive  ac- 
tion of  the  surf  is  considerable,  basalt 
blocks  brought  from  Germany  are  laid 
on  heavy  layers  of  brush.  In  many 
places  piles  are  driven  at  the  base  of  the 
sea  dikes  in  order  to  break  the  violence 


228         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


of  the  breakers.  Nearly  all  masonry  in 
engineering  constructions  is  of  Dutch 
brick,  which  is  of  a  very  superior  qual- 
ity. In  breakwaters  or  piers,  however, 
concrete  blocks  are  used  exclusively,  as 
neither  bricks  nor  basalt  would  furnish 
a  bond  strong  enough  to  withstand  the 
impact  of  the  waves. 

ENGINEERING  PROBLEMS 

From  a  hydrographic  point  of  view, 
the  Netherlands  present  a  very  unusual 
spectacle.  While  the  eastern  elevated 
portion  has  a  natural  topography  of  its 
own,  and  consequently  natural  lines  of 
drainage,  the  western  lowlands  are  de- 
void of  all  drainage  whatever,  and  every 
drop  of  rain  water  that  falls,  as  well  as 
all  seepage  water,  must  either  evaporate 
or  be  pumped  up  and  discharged  through 
artificial  means  into  the  ocean,  if  accu- 
mulations and  inundations  are  to  be 
prevented. 


Statistics  show  that  in  1896,  2,519 
square  miles  of  polder  land  were  IK  •in- 
maintained  with  the  aid  of  444  steam- 
engines  and  247  windmills;  i  ,234  square 
miles  were  being  maintained  with  the 
aid  of  1,706  windmills,  or  in  all  2,397 
pumping  plants  were  required  to  drain 
3,753  square  miles. 

What  at  one  time  were  natural  chan- 
nels and  wrater-courses  have  been  since 
inclosed  between  dikes,  and  the  level  of 
their  waters  is  now  higher  than  that  of 
the  adjacent  land.  The  large  rivers 
that  flow  through  these  low  districts  are 
therefore  here  no  longer  rivers  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word,  as  the  features 
and  problems  which  they  present  are 
very  distinct  from  those  characteristic 
of  natural  streams.  The  smaller  streams 
have  in  reality  ceased  to  exist  as  such. 
For  instance,  the  northern  branch  of 
the  Rhine,  along  which  general  Drnsus 
caused  a  levee  to  be  built,  is  no  longer 
a  river;  its  waters  no  longer  flow;  it  is 


Forest  Growth  on  the  Dunes 


THE    DIKES   OF    HOLLAND 


229 


The  Dunes  near  Domburg,  in  the  Province  of  Zeeland 


lothing  but  an  artificial  channel,  held 
^tween  embankments  and  divided  into 
a  series  of  sections  closed  by  means  of 
locks.     No   longer    does   it   empty  its 
waters  into  the  sea  at  Katwijk,  where 
light-house  of  Caligula  once  stood 
an  island  in  its  estuary;  but  when 
le  lock-tender  at  that  point  has  orders 
do  so,  some  of  its  waters  are  allowed 
escape  at  low  tide  when  it  is  consid- 
red  perfectly  safe.     The  same  condi- 
ion  is  true  of  the  smaller  streams  of  the 
polder  lands.     Protected  on  the  sea  side 
by  the  dunes  and  dikes  and  partitioned 
off  in  the  interior  by  an  endless  array  of 
likes  which  skirt  the  water-courses  and 
inals,  surround  polders,  and  also  serve 
embankments  to  railroads  and  high- 
ways,   Holland  partakes   much   of  the 
nature  of  a  huge  ship  with  water-tight 
compartments. 

The  immense  amount  of  engineering 
which  is  required  to  keep  up  this  com- 


plicated system  of  dikes  and  waterways 
has  always  been  a  source  of  interest  to 
technical  men  in  other  countries.  No 
haphazard  guesses  are  made  as  to  the 
amount  of  water  permissible  in  any  par- 
ticular waterway,  nor  as  to  the  height 
or  size  of  dikes  required.  Matters  of 
this  nature  are  determined  with  great 
nicety  through  the  accumulations  of 
past  experience.  As  one  waterway  is 
frequently  made  to  relieve  another  and 
the  number  of  combinations  must  be 
varied  as  circumstances  require,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  fluctuations  in  the  levels  of 
all  bodies  of  wyater  becomes  paramount. 
In  order  to  supply  this  information,  no 
less  than  172  gage  rods  are  maintained 
throughout  the  kingdom  along  the 
coasts,  at  estuaries,  on  large  rivers,  on 
canals,  bosoms,  and  small  streams,  and 
a  few  even  are  located  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, as,  for  instance,  the  gage  on  the 
Rhine  River  at  Cologne,  dermany,whic  h 


230 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


has  been  maintained  there  by  the  Dutch 
Government  since  1772.  In  order  to 
derive  the  greatest  possible  use  from 
the  data  so  obtained,  all  the  gage  rods 
in  the  kingdom  are  referred  to  the  same 
baselevel,  mean  high  water,  generally 
denoted  by  the  symbol  AP,  and  the 
heights  of  water  thus  indicated  by  them 
give  directly  the  elevation  of  the  water- 
levels  with  respect  to  that  of  mean  high 
water  of  the  sea. 

The  present  kingdom  has  an  area  very 
nearly  equal  to  the  combined  areas  of  the 
States  of  Connecticut  and  New  Jersey. 

Connecticut 4.99°  square  miles. 

New  Jersey 7,815  square  miles. 

Netherlands 12,738  square  miles. 

About  59  per  cent  of  this  area  con- 
sists of  alluvial  formation,  and  is  in- 
closed by  dikes  and  provided  with  arti- 
ficial drainage.  There  are,  therefore, 
about  7,515  square  miles  of  lowlands, 
very  nearly  equivalent  to  the  area  of  the 
State  of  New  Jersey,  while  the  remain- 
ing highlands  would  cover  an  area  about 
equal  to  that  of  the  State  of  Connecticut. 
The  discharge  of  the  Rhine  at  the  point 
where  it  enters  the  country  is  similar  to 
that  of  the  Tennessee  River,  while  the 
flow  of  the  Meuse  may  be  compared  with 
that  of  the  Potomac. 

SMALL   AVERAGE   RAINFALL   IN   THE 
NETHERLANDS 

As  a  large  part  of  the  Netherlands  is 
drained  artificially,  a  few  words  concern- 
ing the  rainfall  will  be  of  interest.  The 
country  enjoys  the  unenviable  reputa- 
tion of  possessing  a  wet  soil  and  a  still 
wetter  atmosphere.  Both  of  these  attri- 
butes are  popular  exaggerations.  The 
atmosphere  of  the  Netherlands  is  fre- 
quently moist — that  is,  it  contains  at 
times  a  high  relative  humidity — but  the 
rainfall  nevertheless  is  moderate,  not  to 
say  small.  As  compared  with  the  United 
States,  it  wrill  be  found  that  the  amount 
of  precipitation  that  occurs  annually  in 


the  Netherlands  is  about  the  same-  as 
that  of  the  Great  Plains  region.  The 
normal  precipitation  for  the  Nether- 
lands, as  derived  from  observations  ex- 
tending over  more  than  a  century,  is 
about  26  inches  per  annum,  or  only  5 
inches  more  than  half  of  the  amount  of 
rain  that  falls  annually  in  Washington, 
D.  C.  ;  and,  in  spite  of  the  reputed 
moist  atmosphere  of  the  Netherlands, 
the  evaporation  during  the  early  sum- 
mer months  exceeds  the  precipitation. 

Table  of  Evaporation  and  Precipitation  from 
Observations  Made  at  Zwanenburg,  near 
Amsterdam,  During  1743-1843* 


Months. 

Normal 
precip  tation. 

Norm  ill 
evaporation. 

Excess- 

Precipita- 
tion. 

Evapora- 
tion. 

January  

Inches. 

•49 

.46 

•43 
•49 
•56 
2.09 
2.69 
2.97 
2.82 

3-09 
2.76 
2.03 

Inches. 
0-33 
0-57 

1-37 
2-39 
3-26 

3-74 
3-74 
3-25 
2.16 
1.24 
0.70 
o.53 

I.I6 
0.89 
O.o6 

February  

March  

April  

May  

June  



July  .  . 

August  

September  

0.66 
1.85 
2.06 
1.50 

October  

November  

December  

Total  

25.88 

23.28 

8.18 

5.58 

In  other  words,  there  is  a  decided  dry 
season,  during  which  droughts  are  by 
no  means  uncommon.  In  order  to  keep 
the  water  in  the  ditches  at  the  proper 
level,  to  prevent  plant-growth  from  suf- 
fering during  such  droughts,  an  efficient 
remedy  is  found  in  allowing  the  water 
in  surrounding  bosoms  and  canals  to  run 
back  into  the  polders,  and  the  usual  pro- 
cess of  their  maintenance  is  thus  actu- 
ally reversed. 

The  polder  lands  known  as  Rijnland, 

*  From  A.  A.  Beekman,  Nederland  als  Pol- 
der land,  p.  loo. 


THE    DIKES   OF    HOLLAND 


23 


an  area  of  417  square  miles,  it  is  esti- 
mated consume  annually  no  less  than  90 
millions  of  cubic  meters  of  water  from 
adjacent  rivers. 

The  climate  of  the  Netherlands  pre- 
sents therefore  an  interesting  anomaly. 
In  spite  of  its  small  rainfall  it  does  not 
exhibit  any  of  the  characteristic  features 
of  a  semi-arid  country,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  some  sandy,  barren  areas  which 
are  incapable  of  producing  anything 
and  are  actually  to  be  classed  as  desert 

Norm«l     Monthly  .Prec.pit al.on      in     Inches , 


AMSTERDAM 
Period 


OMAHA 
Period: 
27  years 
Normal . 
314  inches 


SACRAMENTO 

Period . 
47  years 

Normal. 
348  inches 


WASHINGTON 
Period; 


M|J|J|A|S|0|N|D 


H+H 


i 


lands.  Though  an  equal  annual  rain- 
fall in  the  Great  Plains  region  is  not 
sufficient  to  produce  forest  growth,  the 
Netherlands  were  practically  entirely 
forest-clad  at  a  period  not  so  very  re- 
mote, and  probably  would  be  so  now 
but  for  the  deforestation  which  has  nat- 
urally attended  its  settlement.  This 
anomaly  is  easily  explained  by  three  fac- 
tors :  the  consistency  of  the  Dutch  soil, 
which  renders  it  capable  of  absorbing 
and  holding  large  quantities  of  water  ; 
the  inexhaustible  perennial  streams  and 
other  bodies  of  water  that  feed  it,  and 
last,  but  not  least,  the  even  distribution 


of  the  rainfall  throughout  the  year. 
The  lack  of  ample  precipitation  is  thus 
more  than  offset  by  the  humid  condi- 
tion of  the  soil,  which  makes  aridity 
impossible. 

After  reviewing  all  the  difficulties  and 
perils  with  which  the  Hollander  has 
had  to  contend  in  the  building  up  of  his 
country,  it  at  first  sight  appears  strange 
that  he  should  ever  give  up  any  portion 
of  his  valuable  lands  to  the  dangerous 
element  that  he  has  for  centuries  fought 
so  desperately.  But  as  in  the  course  of 
the  history  of  every  nation  it  sometimes 
becomes  necessary  that  the  welfare  of 
one  or  more  individuals  should  be  sacri- 
ficed for  the  good  of  the  country  or  of 
the  world  at  large,  so  there  are  times 
wrhen  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  do 
not  hesitate  to  cause  large  areas  of  land 
to  be  inundated  in  order  to  save  what 
is  dearer  and  more  valuable.  Recourse 
is  had  to  such  practice  during  the  season 
of  high  waters  on  the  rivers  and  also 
during  times  of  wrar. 

MEANS  OF  PROTECTION   AGAINST 
FLOOD  DISCHARGES 

The  rivers  that  flow  through  the 
Netherlands,  like  most  streams  of  the 
northern  hemisphere  that  flow  in  a 
northerly  direction,  are  subject  during 
the  early  spring  months  to  ice  jams  and 
sudden  flood  discharges  along  their 
lower  courses — a  condition  well  nigh 
inevitable,  as  their  waters  flow  from  a 
warmer  to  a  colder  climate.  In  the 
Netherlands  the  Rhine,  owing  to  the 
many  channels  into  which  it  divides,  can 
be  controlled  with  far  greater  security 
than  the  Meuse,  which,  though  a  much 
smaller  river,  has  a  greater  fall,  and  in 
its  narrow,  tortuous  bed  becomes  when 
swollen  a  source  of  great  danger,  threat- 
ening to  overtop  its  dikes.  Sandbags 
and  the  many  other  devices  employed 
so  extensively  in  similar  cases  of  emer- 
gency along  the  Mississippi  levees  are 
then  used,  but  the  most  efficient  relief 


232         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


Pile  Dikes  for  Protection  against  Marine  Erosion 


is  afforded  by  allowing  the  swollen  river 
to  discharge  a  large  part  of  its  burden 
into  the  adjacent  country.  This  is  ef- 
fected by  providing  at  suitable  points 
low  dikes  over  which  the  water  will  run 
on  reaching  the  danger  line.  These  low 
dikes  or  weirs,  known  in  Dutch  as 
' '  overlaten, ' '  might  well  be  compared  to 
safety-valves.  Their  location  is  chosen 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  water  dis- 
charged into  the  open  country  will  do 
comparatively  little  harm,  and,  being 
confined  by  dikes  especially  designed 
for  that  purpose,  is  made  to  find  its  way 
to  some  low  point  farther  down  the 
river  or  near  the  latter 's  mouth. 

Overlaten  existed  many  years  ago  on 
all  the  large  rivers,  and  although  their 
use  has  saved  the  country  much  damage 
and  expense,  it  has  proved  a  serious  evil 
in  another  way.  It  is  obvious  that 
whenever  a  river  at  the  flood  stage  is 


deprived  at  some  point  along  its  course 
of  a  large  share  of  its  burden  the  natural 
consequence  is  a  lessening  of  the  cur- 
rent below  such  a  point  and  the  deposit- 
ing of  a  vast  amount  of  sediment.  Not 
onl}-  is  this  deposition  of  sediment  at  a 
time  when  the  river  transports  a  max- 
imum amount  a  very  serious  evil,  but 
the  slackening  of  the  current  also  offers 
most  favorable  conditions  for  the  for- 
mation of  ice  jams.  During  the  past 
years  all  the  overlaten  have  been  abol- 
ished with  the  exception  of  one  on  the 
Meuse,  known  as  the  Beerse  Overlaat, 
which  exceeds  two  miles  in  length  and 
has  been  known  to  discharge  with  a 
head  of  three  feet  during  severe  floods, 
the  river  at  such  times  being  relieved  of 
more  than  a  third  of  its  total  flow.  The 
policy  at  present  is  to  increase  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  river  channels  by  deepen- 
ing and  widening  the  mouths,  and  in- 


CONDITION  O/-'  //(//,/,A.\/>  H'/THOrr  li/KKS 

OUff/NC      MEAN    HIGH    TIDE 
A/VO      H/GHEST    STAGE    Of   THE.    PIVEFtS 

~~\    Saf/    H'ti/f-r     l/vv.v/,    H'v/c 


234        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


creasing  their  fall  by  regulating  and 
dredging  their  beds.  The  amount  of 
dredging  annually  by  the  government 
and  by  private  parties  reaches  a  very 
considerable  figure.  Nearly  all  of  the 
sand  and  gravel  used  in  dike-construc- 
tion is  obtained  from  the  river  bottoms 
by  dredging. 

THE   DIKES  A  SYSTEM   OF  NATIONAL 
DEFENSE 

In  conclusion,  a  word  should  be  said 
about  the  practice  of  inundating  lands 
for  defensive  purposes.  The  efforts  of 
the  Dutch  to  flood  their  country,  as  de- 
scribed in  Motley's  Rise  and  Fall  of  the 
Dutch  Republic,  and  later  again  in  1672, 
at  the  time  of  the  war  with  France,  are 
well  known  to  those  familiar  with  the 
history  of  the  Netherlands.  The  meth- 
ods employed  in  those  days  were  not  as 
successful  as  they  might  have  been,  and 
the  blunders  that  were  committed  would 
have  led  to  disastrous  results  but  for  the 
greater  ignorance  displayed  by  the  at- 
tacking party.  Thus,  in  1672,  the 
French  army  of  invasion  could  not  be 
prevented  from  draining  some  of  the 
inundated  lands,  although  their  lack  of 
knowledge  of  the  complicated  situation 
did  not  permit  them  to  succeed  at  the 
time.  When  cold  weather  set  in  the 
manipulation  of  the  water  by  the  Dutch 
was  so  defective  that  large  areas  were 
allowed  to  freeze  over,  and  the  enemy 
was  actually  enabled  to  execute  move- 
ments on  the  ice. 

The  enormous  strength  of  defensive 
works  of  this  class  was,  however,  amply 
proved  and  the  Government  at  the  pres- 
ent day  has  provided  an  elaborate  system 


for  flooding,  which  forms  part  of  the 
military  defenses  of  the  lower  provinces. 
Lands  to  be  flooded  are  provided  with 
special  gage  rods  or  bench-marks  indi- 
cating the  depth  of  water  required  in 
order  to  be  effective.  Special  gates  have 
been  constructed  in  the  dikes  where 
water  is  to  be  turned  onto  the  land,  in 
order  to  avoid  the  slow  and  undesirable 
process  of  piercing  dikes.  The  amount 
of  water  that  is  to  be  drawn  for  such 
purposes  from  bosoms  and  canals,  the 
discharge  that  is  to  pass  the  gates  in  a 
given  time,  and  the  ultimate  time  re- 
quired to  flood  a  particular  area  to  a 
certain  depth  are  quantities  that  have 
been  determined  for  each  section  of  land 
with  a  nicety  which  no  one  can  fail  to 
appreciate  who  is  familiar  with  hydrau- 
lic computations  of  the  flow  of  water  in 
open  channels  and  through  orifices. 

There  are  at  present  about  i  ,000  miles 
of  sea  dikes  in  the  Netherlands.  The 
total  length  of  dikes  is  difficult  to  esti- 
mate, and  even  if  it  could  be  estimated 
would  mean  but  little,  for  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  dikes  have  for  the 
most  part  in  the  course  of  time  been  d 
stroyed  and  rebuilt  repeatedly.  It  h 
not  been  so  much  a  question  of  building 
them  as  it  has  been  of  maintaining  them 
and  keeping  them  where  they  were. 
Besides  protecting  the  country  from  the 
invasions  of  both  fresh  and  salt  waters, 
the  dikes  have  served  to  reclaim  no  less 
than  210,000  acres,  nearly  all  of  which 
are  good,  fertile  land.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  stupendous  project  of  reclaim- 
ing the  Zuider  Zee  will  some  day  be  car- 
ried into  effect,  whereby  there  would 
be  added  to  the  kingdom  some  half 
million  acres  of  land. 


MEXICO   OF   TODAY : 

BY  SENOR   DR.   DON  JUAN  N.  NAVARRO,  CONSUL-GENERAL  OF 
MEXICO  IN  NEW  YORK   CITY 


THANKS  to  intelligence  and  hon- 
esty in  the  administration  of  our 
finances,  the  continual  annual 
deficit  that  formerly  afflicted  Mexico,  as 
it  afflicts  at  present  other  nations,  dis- 
appeared in  the  fiscal  year  1894-' 95,  and 
in  its  stead  we  have  since  had  a  surplus. 
The  surplus  in  that  year  was  $2,373,- 
434.42,  and  in  the  following  year  more 
than  doubled,  rising  to  $5,451,347.29. 

These  results  are  the  more  surprising 
when  it  is  remembered  that  a  good  part 
of  our  revenue  is  derived  from  import 
duties,  and  it  might  be  supposed  that 
the  rapid  development  and  progress  of 
our  industries  would  diminish  that 
source  of  revenue. 

The  invoice  value  of  our  imports 
for  1 896-' 97  was  $42,204,095  in  gold. 
Three  years  later,  in  1899-1900,  they 
had  increased  by  nearly  one-half,  reach- 
ing $61,318,175.  The  invoice  value  of 
our  exports  (in  silver)  amounted  to  $8  6,- 
058,210  in  1892-' 93,  to  $104,741,443  in 
i896-'97,  and  to  $142,615,070  in  1899- 
1900.  The  value  of  gold  exported  from 
Mexico  in  1892-' 93  was  $1,451, on,  and 
during  the  next  seven  years  increased 
many  fold,  reaching  $7, 44 1,290 in  1899- 
1900. 

At  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year  1898-' 99 
the  federal  treasury  had  a  surplus  in 
cash  of  $2 7 , 535 , 602 . 62 .  Because  of  this 
prosperous  condition  of  the  treasury  the 
taxes  were  reduced,  and  a  part  of  the 
funds  were  applied  to  branches  of  public 
service : 

For  building  primary  schools  in  the 
federal  district  and  for  the  corre- 
sponding departments $1,000,000 

To  finish  the  general  hospital 500,000 

For  the  building  of  the  medical  and 
geological  institutes 200,000 


For  a  new  post-office  in  the  capital 
and  for  the  post-offices  of  Vera 
Cruz  and  Puebla $1,000,000 

For  a  cable  between  the  peninsula 
of  California  and  the  coast  of  So- 
nora 300,000 

For  the  Navy  Department 1,000,000 


Total. 


(.,000,000 


To  prove  the  financial  credit  of  Mex- 
ico in  the  world,  I  will  mention  the  con- 
version of  our  public  debt  from  an  inter- 
est rate  of  6  per  cent  into  another  of  5 
per  cent.  The  contract  for  this  opera- 
tion, executed  personally  by  our  intel- 
ligent minister  of  finance,  and  involving 
a  loan  of  22,700,000  pounds,  was  signed 
in  Berlin  by  different  banking-houses 
from  that  city,  London,  New  York,  and 
the  national  bank  of  Mexico,  on  July  i , 
1 899.  The  conditions  were  as  favorable 
as  could  be  offered  to  any  nation  of  well- 
established  credit,  and  in  the  short  time 
open  for  subscriptions  the  public  of  Lon- 
don, Amsterdam,  New  York,  and  Berlin 
subscribed  for  nearly  twenty  millions, 
of  pounds  instead  of  for  the  13,000,000 
offered  in  the  markets  of  those  cities. 
The  advantages  for  our  treasury  are  not 
only  the  reduction  of  the  disbursements 
for  interest,  a  reduction  amounting  an- 
nually to  more  than  $1,800,000,  but  the 
reentry  into  the  treasury  of  values  mort- 
gaged before  as  securities. 

To  give  the  last  proof  of  the  credit  of 
Mexico,  I  will  add  that  the  bonds  of  the 
new  loan  began  to  be  sold  above  par  only 
a  few  months  after  they  were  issued. 

The  laws  issued  by  the  department  on 
institutions  of  credit  have  produced  good 
effects,  and  in  November  last  we  had  18 
banks  of  emission,  with  a  paid-up  capi- 
tal of  $52,960,000,  and  with  notes  in 


*  Concluded  from  the  May  number. 


236         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


circulation  to  the  value  of  $65,897,100. 
Recently,  on  account  of  the  war  in 
China  and  the  Philippine  Islands,  many 
millions  of  Mexican  dollars  have  been 
exported,  producing  a  certain  stringency 
in  the  Mexican  money  market.  The 
evil  is  not  great,  and  it  will  disappear 
totally,  owing  to  the  opportune  meas- 
ures taken  by  the  government  and  the 
prudent  and  conservative  policy  of  the 
banks. 

A  few  words  now  about  our  War  and 
Navy  Departments. 

I  admire  the  peace  congresses,  the 
anti-war  speeches  and  sermons,  but  my 
opinion  is  that  those  well-intentioned 
persons  lose  their  time,  as  there  will 
always  be  war,  because  we  cannot  change 
the  intimate  nature  of  mankind,  and 
universal  and  perpetual  peace  is  a  mathe- 
matical limit,  to  which  mankind  can 
approach  but  never  touch,  as  then  hu- 
manity would  cease  to  be  what  it  is. 

The  barbarism  of  war,  the  injustices 
and  atrocities  inseparable  from  it,  are 
truths  within  the  knowledge  of  every 
civilized  man  ;  but  as  long  as  there  will 
be  human  passions,  as  long  as  there 
will  be  a  great  difference  of  strength 
among  nations,  there  will  be  war.  I 
think  that  there  is  a  practical  and  effi- 
cient method,  if  not  to  extinguish  what 
is  an  impossibility,  at  least  to  make  in- 
ternational wars  very  rare,  and  that  is  to 
invent  something  equalizing  as  much  as 
possible  the  strength  of  the  different 
peoples,  leveling  to  the  greatest  possible 
extent  the  weak  with  the  strong.  The 
invention  of  dynamite  and  other  explo- 
sives, the  great  improvements  in  hand 
arms  and  in  the  artillery,  under  equality 
of  circumstances  favor  more  the  defense 
than  the  attack,  and  are  therefore  in 
favor  of  the  weak,  and  are  producing 
in  favor  of  peace  and  justice  an  excellent 
and  practical  effect.  I  say  justice,  be- 
cause in  the  majority  of  cases  justice  is 
on  the  weak  side. 

An  army  is  a  necessity.  Justice  is 
represented  by  the  image  of  a  girl  hav- 


ing a  balance  in  her  left  hand  and  a 
sword  in  the  right,  and  unfortunately, 
but  truly,  she  is  obliged  to  use  the  sword 
more  than  the  balance. 

Armies  at  the  beginning  and  the  mid- 
dle of  the  last  century  were  in  many 
cases  bodies  of  men  with  interests  and 
exigencies  opposite  to  those  of  the  na- 
tion's supporting  them. 

In  our  times  good  armies  must  be 
bodies  of  armed  men,  taught  not  only 
military  exercises,  but  to  know  that  the 
law  is  superior  to  everything;  that  they 
form  a  part  of  the  nation  of  whom  they 
are  servants  and  not  masters.  Every 
citizen  must  be  a  soldier,  because  every 
citizen  has  the  ineludible  duty  of  keep- 
ing peace  and  order  in  the  interior  and 
repelling  the  foreign  invader.  That,  it 
seems  to  me,  is  the  only  way  of  forming 
and  keeping  an  army,  especially  in  a 
country  ruled  by  republican  institutions. 

In  Mexico  experience  has  conclu- 
sively shown  that  officers  and  even  sol- 
diers cannot  be  improvised,  and  the  very 
first  care  of  General  Diaz  has  been  to 
establish  a  good  school  for  instructing 
scientific  officers.  The  military  school 
of  Chapultepec  in  its  actual  condition  is 
the  fruit  of  his  efforts.  Many  foreign 
officers  of  different  nationalities  have 
visited  that  establishment  and  believe 
that  it  ranks  among  the  first  in  the 
comprehensiveness  and  perfection  of 
military  instruction  there  imparted  and 
in  the  severe  but  just  discipline  to  which 
the  cadets  are  subjected. 

From  that  institution  are  graduated 
all  the  officers  of  our  army,  and  new 
rules  have  been  recently  issued  to  pre- 
vent the  abuse  committed  by  some  per- 
sons who  go  there  to  receive  a  good  and 
gratuitous  education  without  any  inten- 
tion of  serving  in  the  national  army. 

In  the  capital  and  in  many  other 
places  commodious  barracks,  affording 
comfort  and  good  hygienic  conditions 
to  the  soldiers,  have  been  constructed 
or  are  in  the  course  of  construction. 
The  soldiers  are  armed  with  weapons 


MEXICO   OF    TODAY 


237 


pronounced  to  be  the  best  by  technical 
commissions  after  long,  conscientious, 
and  severe  trials,  and  our  artillery  in- 
cludes some  pieces  of  a  system  invented 
by  one  of  its  best  officers,  Colonel 
Mondragon. 

The  cavalry  is  composed  of  excellent 
riders,  very  easy  to  find  in  Mexico,  and 
provided  with  horses  selected  expressly 
for  military  service. 

The  barracks  are  not  as  before — places 
for  keeping  the  soldiers — but  schools 
where  reading,  writing,  and  elementary 
arithmetic  and  different  trades  are 
taught.  The  troops  are  subject  to  the 
strictest  discipline,  but  at  the  same  time 
the  inferior  has  always  within  his  reach 
the  means  to  redress  an  injustice  or  to 
prevent  or  have  punished  an  ill-treat- 
ment from  his  superior.  The  military 
code  has  been  one  of  the  works  to  which 
the  government  has  particularly  di- 
rected its  attention,  to  put  it  in  perfect 
harmony  with  justice  and  the  republi- 
can institutions  ruling  the  country. 
The  ambulance  and  hospital  branch  re- 
ceives continual  additions  to  its  equip- 
ment, and  is  formed  from  many  of  the 
best  surgeons  and  physicians.  Expe- 
rience has  proved  its  efficiency.  There 
are  officers  selected  by  the  government 
studying  in  foreign  countries,  and  their 
observations  are  applied  to  the  improve- 
ment of  our  army. 

Very  recently  the  government  has 
issued  a  decree  for  the  reorganization  of 
the  army,  with  the  object  of  keeping  in 
active  service  the  same  number  of  troops 
we  have  now,  but  of  supplying  the  means 
to  increase  that  force  to  the  extent  of 
some  hundreds  of  thousands  in  time  of 
necessity,  and  adding  as  a  reserve  the 
whole  nation  in  the  case  of  a  foreign 
invasion. 

Our  navy  is  in  its  infancy,  but  the 
flotilla  we  have  around  Yucatan  to  pro- 
vision the  land  troops  and  to  cooperate 
with  them  and  to  subdue  those  of  the 
Maya  Indians  who  refuse  to  obey  the 
laws  regulating  a  civilized  community 


is  rendering  invaluable  sendees.  Little 
by  little  the  number  and  size  of  our  war 
vessels  will  be  increased,  as  our  govern- 
ment never  loses  sight  of  that  important 
branch  of  national  defense. 

To  conclude,  Mexico  is  a  country 
endowed  with  many  natural  gifts,  ruled 
by  a  wise  government  and  republican  in- 
stitutions equal  to  the  United  States  in 
essential  points,  inhabited  by  14,000,000 
intelligent,  peaceful,  and  industrious 
people,  remarkable  for  their  natural  cour- 
tesy and  hospitality,  which  is  extended 
to  all  without  distinction  of  nationality. 
Mexico  cultivates  friendly  relations 
with  the  whole  civilized  world,  and  is  in 
the  most  intimate  intercourse  with  the 
Government  and  people  of  the  United 
States. 

The  governors  of  the  States,  into 
which  the  Republic  is  divided,  cooperate 
intelligently  with  the  federal  authorities 
to  establish  and  maintain  all  moral  and 
material  improvements. 

There  is  a  complete  and  constantly 
improving  system  of  public  education, 
uniform  in  the  country,  which  is  mak- 
ing education  compulsory  and  gratui- 
tous, and  the  schools,  nearly  13,000,  are 
attended  by  numerous  pupils,  and  the 
extension  of  elementary  knowledge  to 
the  lowest  classes  of  our  people  is  the 
best  proof  of  the  methods  employed. 

Industry  in  all  its  branches  is  growing 
at  a  worderf  ul  pace,  and  the  number  of 
manufactories  is  in  constant  progress 
and  their  products  are  of  a  high  grade. 
The  means  of  communication  are 
numerous,  there  being  in  actual  opera- 
tion more  than  9,000  miles  of  excellent 
railroads,  and  more  than  61 ,000  miles  of 
telegraphic  and  telephonic  lines,  and 
different  submarine  cables  for  communi- 
cation with  every  civilized  nation. 

The  national  and  international  postal 
system  is  now  very  good  and  growing 
continually  to  a  degree  of  great  perfec- 
tion. 

The  national  treasury  is  in  a  flourish- 
ing condition,  and  we  Mexicans  can  say 


238         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


with  pride  that  it  is  administered  with 
consummate  ability  and  perfect  honesty. 

Finally,  we  are  in  perfect  peace,  and 
there  is  not  a  single  cloud  on  our  po- 
litical horizon,  and  therefore  it  is  the 
time  to  form  upon  solid  foundations  our 
army  and  military  institutions,  following 
the  old  Roman  maxim,  as  true  today  as 
in  the  times  of  Caesar,  ' '  In  time  of  peace 
prepare  for  war. ' ' 

The  Mexican  people  have  fought  for 
their  independence  against  great  odds, 
with  poor  arms,  without  a  cent,  and  hav- 
ing scarcely  the  necessary  food  to  main- 
tain life,  and  have  fought  incessantly 
till  they  have  come  out  victorious.  That 
same  people,  well  armed,  with  abundant 
pecuniary  resources,  and  guided  by  good 


scientific  officers,  are  preparing  for  tht.-ir 
future  and  unknown  invaders  some  little 
surprises  probably  beyond  the  expecta- 
tion of  the  attacking  party. 

I  have  lived  in  your  powerful  and  in- 
teresting country  for  more  than  thirty- 
seven  years,  receiving  uninterrupted 
proofs  from  the  authorities  and  people  of 
esteem  and  consideration,  and  I  avail 
myself  of  this  occasion  to  make  manifest 
my  heartfelt  thanks  for  so  much  kind- 
ness. 

May  your  Republic  be  always  pros- 
perous, guided  by  the  sublime  maxims 
of  its  immortal  and  virtuous  founder, 
who  condensed  all  his  wise  advice  to  his 
people  in  those  five  words  of  eternal 
truth,  "Justice  is  the  best  policy." 


SIR  JOHN   MURRAY 


SIR  JOHN  MURRAY  has  recently 
returned  from  a  six  months'  ex- 
pedition to  Christmas  Island,  a 
tiny  isle  200  miles  south  of  Java,  and 
has  thus  added  one  more  to  his  many 
interesting  explorations.  Sir  John  was 
born  in  Coburg,  Ontario,  Canada,  on 
March  3,  1841.  He  received  his  early 
education  at  a  public  school  in  London, 
Ontario,  and  at  the  Victoria  College, 
Coburg,  Ontario  ;  but  when  a  youth  he 
removed  to  Scotland,  where  his  educa- 
tion was  continued  at  the  High  School 
of  Stirling  and  at  the  University  of 
Edinburgh. 

In  1868  he  took  a  voyage  in  an  Arctic 
whaler  to  Spitzbergen  and  other  places 
in  the  Arctic  regions.  In  1872  he  was 
appointed  as  naturalist  on  the  civilian 
scientific  staff  of  the  Challenger  Expedi- 
tion, and  in  that  capacity  accompanied 
H.  M.  S.  Challenger  during  her  scientific 
circumnavigating  cruise  from  1872  to 
1876.  On  the  return  of  the  expedition 
he  became  first  assistant,  under  Sir  C. 
Wyville  Thomson,  on  the  commission 


appointed  to  prepare  the  scientific  results 
for  publication,  and  in  1882,  owing  to 
the  failing  health  of  Sir  C.  Wyville 
Thomson,  he  was  appointed  editor  of  the 
' '  Challenger  Reports. ' '  These  ' '  Official 
Reports  on  the  Scientific  Results  of  the 
Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Challenger"  filled 
fifty  large  royal  quarto  volumes,  and 
were  published  at  intervals  as  ready,  the 
first  volume  appearing  in  1880  and  the 
final  volumes  in  1895.  Besides  editing 
nearly  the  whole  series,  Sir  John  Murray 
was  joint-author  of  the  "  Narrative  of 
the  Cruise  ' '  and  of  the  ' '  Report  on  the 
Deep-Sea  Deposits,"  and  author  of  a 
' '  Summary  of  the  Scientific  Results, ' '  in 
two  volumes.  The  British  Government 
has  presented  copies  of  these  reports  to 
scientific  institutions  and  learned  socie- 
ties in  all  quarters  of  the  globe. 

In  addition  to  superintending  the 
work  of  publishing  the  ' '  Challenger 
Reports,"  he  has  during  the  past  thirty 
years  published  a  large  number  of 
papers  on  oceanographical,  geograph- 
ical, geological,  and  other  subjects, 


Sir  John  Murray 


240         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


many  of  them  of  great  interest  and 
scientific  value,  in  which  he  has  ex- 
pressed some  novel  and  ingenious  ideas 
respecting  the  past  and  present  condi- 
tion of  our  planet. 

In  1880  Sir  John  Murray  took  part  in 
a  scientific  exploration  of  the  Faroe 
Channel  .between  thelnorth  coast  of  Scot- 
land and  the  Faroe  Islands,  in  H.  M.  S. 
Knight  Errant,  and  again  in  1882,  in 
the  same  region,  in  H.  M.  S.  Triton. 
He  was  for  several  years  scientific  mem- 
ber of  the  Fishery  Board  for  Scotland, 
and  in  1 899  he  was  appointed  a  delegate 
of  the  British  Government  at  the  Inter- 
national Fisheries  Conference  at  Stock- 
holm. He  also  acted  as  president  of  the 
Geographical  Section  of  the  British 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  Dover,  1899. 

During  eight  or  ten  years  he  wras  en- 
gaged in  a  bathymetrical  and  biolog- 
ical survey  of  the  coast  of  Scotland  in 
his  small  steam  yacht,  the  Medusa ,  in 
which  wrork  he  was  assisted  by  many 
scientists.  He  has  also  taken  an  active 
part  in  the  foundation  of  marine  stations 
for  physical  and  biological  research  at 


Granton,  near  Edinburgh,  and  at  Mill- 
port,  on  the  island  of  Cumbrae,  in  the 
Firth  of  Clyde,  as  well  as  in  the  founda- 
tion of  the  meteorological  observatories 
on  the  summit  and  at  the  foot  of  Hen 
Nevis,  the  highest  mountain  in  Scotland. 

Christmas  Island  was  added  by  Eng- 
land to  the  colony  of  the  Straits  Settle- 
ments in  1889,  and  is  some  12  miles 
long  by  seven  broad.  It  has  rich  phos- 
phate deposits,  which  are  worked  by  an 
English  company.  The  works  give  em- 
ployment to  about  700  coolies  and  a 
score  of  whites,  but  is  believed  never  to 
have  been  inhabited  prior  to  the  English 
annexation. 

In  recognition  of  his  scientific  work 
Sir  John  Murray  has  been  awarded  the 
Cuvier  prize  of  the  Institute  de  France, 
the  Humboldt  medal  of  the  Gesellschaft 
fur  Erdkunde  zu  Berlin,  the  Royal 
medal  of  the  Royal  Society,  the  Found- 
er's medal  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  the  Keith  and  the  Makdougall- 
Brisbane  medals  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Edinburgh  and  the  Cullum  medal  of  the 
National  Geographic  Society  of  Wash- 
ington. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


POPULATION  OF  UNITED  KINGDOM 

FORTY-ONE  and  one-half  millions 
of  people  are  now  crowded  into 
the  United  Kingdom.  A  similar  den- 
sity of  population  in  the  United  States 
would  mean  a  total  population  in  this 
country,  excluding  the  dependencies,  of 
about  1,036,000,000. 

For  the  last  ten  years  England  and 
Wales  show  a  rate  of  increase  of  12.15 
per  cent,  which  slightly  exceeds  their 
rate  of  growth  for  the  preceding  decade, 
11.65  per  cent ;  Scotland,  a  rate  of  in- 
crease of  10.8  per  cent,  also  a  greater 
increase  than  during  the  preceding  dec- 
ade, and  Ireland  a  rate  of  decrease  of 


only  5.3  per  cent,  which  is  little  more 
than  one-half  the  rate  of  decrease  of  the 
preceding  decade.  The  census  figures 
are  thus  very  gratifying  to  Englishmen, 
for  they  show  no  signs  of  diminishing 
national  vitality,  but  rather  tend  to  show 
increasing  national  virility.  It  is  yet 
too  soon  to  give  exact  percentages  of 
the  relative  growth  of  the  urban  and 
rural  districts,  but  what  figures  have 
been  given  show  a  most  marked  increase 
in  city  populations. 

The  population  of  England  and  Wales 
is  now  32, 525,816,  of  Ireland  4,456,54'"!. 
and  of  Scotland  4,471,957,  making  a 
total  population  for  the  United  King- 
dom of  41,454,219. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


241 


)PULATION  OF  AUSTRALIA  AND 
NEW  ZEALAND 

THE  recent  census  of  Australia,  ac- 
cording to  cabled  reports,  shows 
that  the  population  of  this  great  confed- 
eration has  increased  about  16.9  percent 
in  the  last  ten  years,  or  5 14,00x3  in  round 
numbers,  which  exceeds  the  rate  of 
growth  of  England,  but  falls  much  be- 
hind that  of  the  United  States.  The 
present  population  of  the  island  conti- 
nent is  4, 550, 651  as  against  4,036,570^1 
1891.  Apparently  the  Australians  are 
spreading  out  more,  for  all  the  cities  ex- 
cept Sydney  show  a  less  comparative 
increase  than  the  country  districts.  Mel- 
bourne, for  instance,  since  1891  has  added 
only  3,000  to  her  inhabitants  and  now 
numbers  493,956.  Sydney  ten  years 
ago  had  a  population  of  about  385,000, 
but  the  city  has  grown  very  rapidly  and 
now  is  only  a  few  thousand  behind  Mel- 
bourne. Victoria  has  given  way  to  New 
South  Wales  as  the  most  populous  col- 
ony, though  the  former  is  still  the  most 
densely  populated.  Victoria  has  a  pres- 
ent population  of  about  1,196,000,  and 
New  South  Wales  of  1,362,232. 

New  Zealand  has  added  146,000  white 
persons  to  her  population,  so  that  today 
there  are  773,000  white  people  within 
her  borders.  Her  rate  of  growth  for  the 
preceding  decade  is  thus  23  per  cent, 
which  would  tend  to  show  that  her  rad- 
ical social  laws  attract  immigrants,  not- 
withstanding the  very  high  per  capita 
debt  of  the  government.  Including  the 
Maori,  the  population  of  New  Zealand 
is  816,000. 

THE  CENTER  OF  POPULATION   OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES 

A  POINT  in  the  interior  of  the  earth 
600  miles  beneath  the  city  of 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  has  been  computed  by 
Mr.  Henry  Gannett  as  approximately 
the  center  of  population  of  the  United 
States  and  its  dependencies,  including 


Alaska,  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Phil- 
ippines. In  other  words,  the  center  is 
beneath  the  intersection  of  the  36th 
parallel  with  the  87th  meridian. 

In  computing  this  center  of  popula- 
tion it  is  necessary  to  regard  the  earth 
as  a  sphere  rather  than  a  plane  surface, 
for  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines  are 
nearly  half  the  earth's  circumference 
apart. 

But  if  Alaska  and  the  recent  territo- 
rial acquisitions  be  disregarded,  the 
center  of  population  of  the  United  States 
is  six  miles  southeast  of  Columbus,  in 
Bartholomew  County,  Indiana.  In  the 
ten  years  preceding  June  i,  1900,  the 
center  of  population  has  thus  moved 
westward  14  miles  and  southward  two 
and  one-half  miles,  the  smallest  move- 
ment ever  noted  by  the  Census  Bureau. 

It  shows  the  population  of  the  West- 
ern States  has  not  increased  as  rapidly 
as  in  former  decades.  The  southward 
movement  is  due  largely  to  the  great  in- 
crease in  the  population  of  Indian  Ter- 
ritory, Oklahoma,  and  Texas,  and  the 
decreased  westward  movement  to  the 
large  increase  in  the  population  of  the 
North  Atlantic  States. 

The  center  of  area  of  the  United 
States,  excluding  Alaska  and  Hawaii 
and  other  recent  accessions,  is  in  north- 
ern Kansas.  The  center  of  population, 
therefore,  is  about  three-fourths  of  a 
degree  south  and  more  than  13  degrees 
east  of  the  center  of  area. 

SERVIA 

THE  little  kingdom  of  Servia,  the 
actions  of  whose  monarch  and  his 
consort  have  aroused  so  much  comment 
during  the  past  year,  is  about  the  size 
of  the  States  of  New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont  combined.  Surrounded  on  all 
sides  by  foes  or  unreliable  friends — Bul- 
garia on  the  east,  Turkey  on  the  south, 
Roumania  and  Austro-Hungary  on  the 
north  and  west — its  life  since  it  became 
a  semi-independent  nation  has  been  a 


242         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


hard  one,  especially  as  it  has  not  known, 
how  to  protect  itself  against  attacks 
which  its  own  deceitful  arrogance  has 
aroused. 

The  country  is  mountainous  and  hilly, 
without  any  of  the  mountains,  however, 
attaining  great  height.  Mt.  Midzur,  on 
the  eastern  boundary,  with  a  height  of 
7,106  feet,  overtops  all  others  in  the 
kingdom.  The  mountains  of  Servia  are 
the  ramifications  of  four  systems  which 
invade  the  kingdom  from  different  di- 
rections. One  branch  comes  from  the 
east  from  Bulgaria,  a  second  from  the 
southeast  from  Macedonia,  a  third  from 
the  south  from  Albania,  and  the  fourth 
from  the  west  from  Montenegro.  Rivers, 
streams,  and  rivulets,  all  flowing  in  dif- 
ferent directions,  still  further  subdivide 
the  country,  but  bet  ween  the  mountains 
and  along  the  large  rivers  are  rich  and 
fertile  sloping  valleys  and  plains.  Two 
and  one-quarter  millions  of  people  culti- 
vate all  the  available  land.  Servia  is 
distinctly  an  agricultural  country  ;  83.6 
per  cent  of  her  people  till  the  soil,  and 
about  85  percent  in  value  of  her  exports 
are  cattle  and  agricultural  products. 

The  climate  is  temperate  and  depend- 
ent on  the  winds,  which,  on  the  whole, 
are  constant  from  the  northwest  and 
northeast  during  the  winter  and  from 
the  west  and  southwest  during  summer. 
A  temperature  of  about  25.2°  Fahr.  dur- 
ing winter  and  69.98°  during  summer  is 
the  normal. 

Twenty-five  years  ago,  in  1876,  Servia 
was  clothed  with  forests,  and  was  aptly 
termed  ' '  the  land  of  the  forest ; ' '  but 
the  Servian-Turco  trouble  of  i876'~78 
played  havoc  with  the  forests.  Thou- 
sands of  acres  were  stripped  of  trees  in 
order  to  serve  for  fortifications  or  to  bar 
the  advance  of  the  Turkish  army  or  to 
warm  the  great  masses  of  troops  that 
camped  on  the  land  during  two  winters. 
The  war  was  followed  by  a  period  of 
ruthless  destruction  of  the  forests,  vast 
tracts  being  sold  at  a  ridiculous  price  or 
denuded  to  supply  the  railroads. 


: 


GEOGRAPHIC  NAMES 

THE  following  decisions  were  made 
by  the  U.  S.  Board  on  Geographic 

names  May  i,  1901: 
Goose;  point,  Chincoteague  Bay,  \\'<>r 

cester     County,     Maryland 

Clam). 
Hardship;  branch  of  Pocomoke  River. 

Worcester  County,  Maryland  <  not 

Hardshift). 
Long;  point,  Chincoteague  Bay,  Arm 

mac  County,  Virginia  (not  Bodkin 
Nofat;    mountain    between    Buncombe 

and  Madison  counties,  North  Caro- 
lina (not  No  Fat  nor  No-fat). 
Ricks;  point,  Chincoteague  Bay.  \Yor- 
'  cester  County,  Maryland  (not  Rich, 

Rich's,  nor  Rick's). 
Robin;  creek  and  marsh,  Chincoteague 

Bay,  Worcester  County,  Maryland 

(not  Robbins,  Robins,  nor  Robin' s  ) . 
Rockawalking  ;  creek,  post-office,  and 

railroad  station,  Wicomico  County, 

Maryland  (not  Rock-a-walkin ). 
Scarboro  ;  creek    and    railroad  station. 

Worcester  County,  Maryland   '  not 

Scarborough '  s  ) . 
Seeley;  creek,  Sank  County.  Wisconsin 

(not  Seely). 
*  Smoke;  creek,  south  of  Buffalo,   Kru 

County,  New  York  (not  Smokes  >. 
Taylorville;  village,  Worcester  Count y, 

Maryland  (not  Taylor  nor  Taylors- 

ville). 
Tilhance;  creek,  Berkeley  County.  West 

Virginia  (not  Tilahanchee.Tilchan- 

cos,  Tilehance,  Tillehances,  etc.). 
Whittington;  point,  Chincoteague  Hay. 

Worcester  County,  Maryland  (not 

Willington's). 

PREHISTORIC  SURGERY 

AN  item  going  the  rounds  of   the 
press  relates  to  the  Muniz  collection 
of  trephined  crania  from  Peru,  exhibited 
at  the  Pan-American  Exposition  by  W  J 

*  Erroneously  given  in  May  number  of  this 
Magazine,  p.  201,  as  in  Pennsylvania. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


243 


McGee.  The  collection  comprises  19 
crania,  of  which  several  were  trephined 
more  than  once.  The  trephined  skulls 
were  selected  from  a  collection  of  1,000 
made  by  the  late  Dr.  Manuel  A.  Muniz 
in  pre-Columbian,  and  probably  pre- 
Incan,  cemeteries  in  different  portions 
of  Peru  ;  and  they  are  of  interest  as 
showing  that  this  major  surgical  oper- 
ation was  more  common  among  the 
aborigines  of  South  America  than  in 
the  most  highly  advanced  nations  of 
today. 

The  ratio  of  trephined  crania  is  just 
below  two  per  cent ;  but  since  one  speci- 
men shows  three  operations  and  two 
others  three  each,  the  ratio  of  trephin- 
ing to  population  indicated  by  the  col- 
lection is  nearly  two  and  one-half  per 
cent.  The  technic  of  the  operation  was 
critically  studied  by  McGee,  and  de- 
scribed in  a  recent  report  of  the  Bureau 
of  American  Ethnology.  It  would  ap- 
pear from  his  researches  that  the  opera- 
tion was  not  therapeutic  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  term,  but  was  thaumaturgic 
and  closely  allied  to  the  so-called  ' '  medi- 
cine ' '  of  various  tribes,  in  which  the 
treatment  consists  of  occult  ceremonies 
and  skillful  jugglery  by  the  shamans. 


UNEXPLORED  CANADA 

ONE-THIRD  of  the  area  of  Canada 
is  practically  unknown,  states  the 
Director  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  the 
Dominion  in  his  last  report. 

There  are  more  than  i  ,250,000  square 
miles  of  unexplored  lands  in  Canada. 
The  entire  area  of  the  Dominion  is  com- 
puted at  3,450,257  square  miles  ;  conse- 
quently one-third  of  this  country  has  yet 
been  untraveled  by  the  explorer.  Ex- 
clusive of  the  inhospitable  detached 
Arctic  portions,  954,000  square  miles  is 
for  all  practical  purposes  entirely  un- 
known. 

Most  of  this  unknown  area  is  distrib- 
uted in  the  western  half  of  the  Dominion 


in  impenetrated  blocks  of  from  25,000  to 
100,000  square  miles — that  is,  areas  as 
large  as  the  States  of  Ohio,  Kansas,  or 
New  England  are  yet  a  secret  to  white 
man. 

Beginning  at  the  extreme  northwest 
of  the  Dominion,  the  first  of  these  areas 
is  between  the  eastern  boundary  of 
Alaska,  the  Porcupine  River,  and  the 
Arctic  coast,  about  9, 500  square  miles  in 
extent,  or  somewhat  smaller  than  Bel- 
gium, and  lying  entirely  within  the 
Arctic  Circle.  The  next  is  west  of  the 
Lewes  and  Yukon  Rivers  and  extends  to 
the  boundary  of  Alaska.  Until  last  year 
32,000  square  miles  in  this  area  were 
unexplored,  but  a  part  has  since  been 
traveled.  A  third  area  of  27,000  square 
miles — nearly  twice  as  large  as  Scot- 
land— lies  between  the  Lewes,  Pelly ,  and 
Stikine  Rivers.  Between  the  Pelly  and 
Mackenzie  Rivers  is  another  large  tract 
of  1 00,000  square  miles,  or  about  double 
the  size  of  England.  It  includes  nearly 
600  miles  of  the  main  Rocky  Mountain 
range.  An  unexplored  area  of  50,000 
square  miles  is  found  between  Great 
Bear  Lake  and  the  Arctic  coast,  being 
nearly  all  to  the  north  of  the  Arctic 
Circle. 

Nearly  as  large  as  Portugal  is  another 
tract  between  Great  Bear  Lake,  the 
Mackenzie  River,  and  the  western  part 
of  Great  Slave  Lake, in  all  35,000  square 
miles.  Lying  between  Stikine  and  Laird 
Rivers  to  the  north  and  the  Skeena  and 
Peace  Rivers  to  the  south  is  an  area  of 
81,000  square  miles,  which,  except  for 
a  recent  visit  by  a  field  party,  is  quite 
unexplored.  Of  the  35,000  square  miles 
southeast  of  Athabasca  Lake,  little  is 
known,  except  that  it  has  been  crossed 
by  a  field  party  en  route  to  Fort  Church- 
ill. East  of  the  Coppermine  River  and 
west  of  Bathurst  Inlet  lies  7,500  miles  of 
unexplored  land,  which  may  be  com- 
pared to  half  the  size  of  Switzerland. 
Eastward  from  this,  lying  between  the 
Arctic  coast  and  Blacks  River,  is  an 
area  of  31,000  square  miles,  or  about 


244         THE  NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


equal  to  Ireland.  Much  larger  than 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  embrac- 
ing 178,000  square  miles,  is  the  region 
bounded  by  Blacks  River,  Great  Slave 
Lake,  Athabasca  Lake,  Hatchet  and 
Reindeer  Lakes,  Churchill  River,  and 
the  west  coast  of  Hudson  Bay.  This 
country  includes  the  barren  grounds  of 
the  continent.  Mr.  J.  B.  Tyrell  re- 
cently struck  through  this  country  on  his 
trip  to  Fort  Churchill,  on  the  Churchill 
River,  but  could  only  make  a  prelim- 
inary exploration.  On  the  south  coast 
of  Hudson  Bay,  between  the  Severn  and 
Attawapishkat  Rivers,  is  an  area  22,000 
square  miles  in  extent,  or  larger  than 
Nova  Scotia,  and  lying  between  Trout 
Lake,  Lac  Seul,  and  the  Albany  River 
is  another  15,000  square  miles  of  unex- 
plored land.  South  and  east  of  James 
Bay  and  nearer  to  large  centers  of  pop- 
ulation than  any  other  unexplored  re- 
gion is  a  tract  of  35,000  square  miles, 
which  may  be  compared  in  size  to 
Portugal. 

The  most  easterly  area  is  the  greatest 
of  all.  It  comprises  almost  the  entire 
interior  of  the  Labrador  Peninsula  or 
Northwest  Territory,  in  all  289,000 
square  miles,  or  more  than  twice  as 
much  as  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 
Two  or  three  years  ago  Mr.  A.  P.  Lowe 
made  a  line  of  exploration  and  survey 
into  the  interior  of  this  vast  region,  and 
the  same  gentleman  also  traveled  inland 
up  the  Hamilton  River,  but  with  these 
exceptions  the  country  may  be  regarded 
as  practically  unexplored. 

The  Arctic  islands  will  add  an  area  of 
several  hundred  thousand  square  miles 
of  unexplored  land. 

The  government  during  the  past  year 
has  made  a  great  effort  in  the  direction 
of  exploring  and  developing  this  vast 
territory.  It  has  recognized  the  fact 
that  railroads  are  essential  to  the  devel- 
opment of  a  new  country,  and  liberal 
inducements  for  their  construction  are 
made  by  granting  millions  of  acres  of 
land  as  a  bonus. 


GEOGRAPHIC   PROGRESS   IN   SOUTH 
AMERICA 

TH  K  governments  of  the  South 
American  Republics  are  begin- 
ning to  make  an  effort  to  obtain  a  belter 
knowledge  of  their  vast  territories.  One 
hundred  years  ago  South  America,  next 
to  Europe,  was  the  most  accurately 
known  of  the  continents.  Today  it  is 
the  least  known  of  them  all,  so  rapid 
has  been  geographic  progress  elsewhere 
and  so  tardy  in  South  America. 

The  government  of  Bolivia  has  re- 
cently taken  steps  to  obtain  a  complete 
survey  of  the  country.  A  Paris  firm 
has  engaged  to  immediately  survey  and 
map  40,000  square  kilometers  and  to  lay 
off  a  triangulation  which  will  enable  a 
complete  trigonometrical  survey  of  the 
country  to  be  made.  Bolivia  has  also 
arranged  with  Paraguay  for  a  joint  com- 
mission to  trace  and  mark  the  boundary 
between  the  two  nations.  A  joint  com- 
mission with  Brazil  several  months  ago 
commenced  surveying  the  Bolivian-Bra- 
zilian line.  A  school  of  mines  has  also 
been  established  by  the  Bolivian  Gov- 
ernment to  train  and  encourage  its  own 
people  to  the  development  of  its  mineral 
resources. 

COMMERCIAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

THE  Bureau  of  Foreign  Commerce 
of  the  Department  of  State  has 
issued  its  report  on  the  commercial  rela- 
tions of  the  United  States  for  1 900.  The 
introduction,  by  the  chief  of  the  Bureau, 
Frederic  Emory,  contains  several  perti- 
nent pages  on  the  present  ascendency  of 
the  United  States  : 

' '  Lord  Rosebery  is  quoted  by  cable  as 
having  said  in  a  speech  before  a  British 
chamber  of  commerce  January  16,  1901 , 
that  the  chief  rivals  to  be  feared  by 
Great  Britain  '  are  America  and  ( >er 
many.  The  alertness  of  the  Americans, ' 
he  continued,  '  their  incalculable  natural 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


245 


resources,  their  acuteness,  their  enter- 
prise, their  vast  population,  which  will 
in  all  probability  within  the  next  twenty 
years  reach  100, 000,000,  make  them 
very  formidable  competitors  with  our- 
selves. And  with  the  Germans,  their 
slow,  but  sure,  persistency,  their  scien- 
tific methods,  and  their  conquering 
spirit,  devoted  as  these  qualities  are  at 
this  moment  to  preparation  for  trade 
warfare,  make  them  also,  in  my  judg- 
ment, little  less  redoubtable  than  the 
Americans.  There  is  one  feature  of  the 
American  competition  which  seems  to 
me  especially  formidable,  and  as  I  have 
not  seen  it  largely  noticed,  perhaps  you 
will  excuse  me  for  calling  attention  to  it. 
We  are  daily  reminded  of  the  gigantic 
fortunes  which  are  accumulated  in 
America,  fortunes  to  which  nothing  in 
this 'country  bears  any  relation  what- 
ever, and  which  in  themselves  constitute 
an  enormous  commercial  force.  The 
Americans,  as  it  appears,  are  scarcely 
satisfied  with  these  individual  fortunes, 
but  use  them,  by  combination  in  trusts, 
to  make  a  capital  and  a  power  which, 
wielded  as  it  is  by  one  or  two  minds,  is 
almost  irresistible,  and  that,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  if  concentrated  upon  Great  Britain 
as  an  engine  in  the  trade  warfare  is  a 
danger  which  we  cannot  affore  to  disre- 
gard. Suppose  a  trust  of  many  millions, 
of  a  few  men  combined  so  to  compete 
with  any  trade  in  this"country  by  un- 
derselling all  its  products,  even  at  a  con- 
siderable loss  to  themselves,  and  we  can 
see  in  that  what  are  the  possibilities  of 
the  commercial  outcome  of  the  imme- 
diate future.' 

"  It  has  been  evident  for  some  time 
that  the  United  States,  not  content  with 
having  solved  that  part  of  the  problem 
of  economy  of  production  which  relates 
to  processes  of  manufacture  and  the  util- 
i/.ation  of  labor,  has  been  drifting  in- 
stinctively toward  the  larger  question  of 
the  concentration  of  capital  as  the  logical 
development  of  the  same  general  idea  of 
reducing  cost  and  increasing  the  margin 


of  profit.  The  question  is  larger  because 
it  has  a  more  direct  and  more  general 
bearing  upon  the  economic  and  social 
life  of  the  nation  ;  upon  the  interests, 
real  or  imagined,  of  the  whole  body 
politic.  We  have  to  do  with  it  here 
only  because  of  its  relation  to  and  pos- 
sible effect  upon  our  foreign  trade,  and 
it  is  interesting  to  know  that  so  thought- 
ful an  observer  as  Lord  Rosebery  per- 
ceives in  the  simplification  of  the  use  of 
capital  in  the  United  States  which  is  go- 
ing on — it  may  be  said  experimentally, 
to  a  large  extent,  as  yet — a  tremendous 
power  in  the  commercial  rivalry  of  the 
world. 

"  Germany,  as  well  as  Great  Britain, 
seems  fully  sensible  of  the  seriousness  of 
American  competition.  In  a  recent  issue 
the  Hamburger  Fremdenblatt  points  out 
that  the  United  States,  which  ten  years 
ago  exported  more  than  80  per  cent  of 
agricultural  products  and  less  than  a 
fifth  of  manufactured  goods,  todaydraws 
nearly  a  third  of  its  entire  export  from 
the  products  of  its  factories.  '  In  other 
words,  the  Union  is  marching  with  gi- 
gantic strides  toward  conversion  from 
an  agricultural  to  an  industrial  nation.' 
Does  not  the  rapid  increase  of  the  United 
States  ih  the  value  of  industrial  ex- 
ports, the  Fremdenblatt  asks,  'constitute 
an  imminent  danger  for  all  competing 
nations  ? ' 

"The  Fremdenblatt' s  conclusion  is 
that  Europe  '  must  fight  Americanism 
with  its  own  methods  ;  the  battle  must 
be  fought  with  their  weapons,  and 
wherever  possible  their  weapons  must 
be  bettered  and  improved  by  us  ;  or, 
to  speak  with  other  and  more  practical 
words,  Germany — Europe — must  adopt 
improved  and  progressive  methods  in 
every  department  of  industry,  must  use 
more  and  more  effective  machinery. 
Manufacturers  as  well  as  merchants 
must  go  to  America,  send  thither  their 
assistants  and  workingmen,  not  merely 
to  superficially  observe  the  methods 
there  em  ployed,  but  to  study  them  thor- 


246         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


oughly,  to  adopt  them,  and,  wherever 
]*>ssible,  to  improve  upon  them,  just  as 
the  Americans  have  done  and  are  still 
doing  in  Europe." 

The  following  table  shows  the  imports 
and  exports  for  1 900  of  all  countries  for 
which  statistics  have  been  received,  by 
the  Bureau  of  Foreign  Commerce: 


Imports. 

Exports. 

United  States  

$829  052,000 

$1,478.050,000 

2  5^8  260  OOO 

I  388  328.2OO 

1,084,159,200 

France  (n  months)  

773,058,600 

719.686,600 

346,808  i  o 

Austria-Hungary  ^mos.).. 

280,887,200 

317.954,200 

Servia  (9  months)  

7,687,003 

8,778,900 

Kussia  (8  months)  
Switzerland  >.  

119,110.200 
214,8  O.OOO 

210,807,0  o 
164  ooo  ooo 

Italy  (n  months)  

275,792,300 

237.367,100 

Greece  (3  months)  

5  690,700 

3  894  900 

Mexico  (1896-1900)  

61  304.900 

71,396,600 

Canada  (1899-1900)  

182,951.400 

175,656,9:0 

British  India  (1899-19001  
British  Guiana  (1899-19001... 
Cuba  (1899-1900)  

293.M5-230 
6,329,800 
71,681,200 

374.163.900 
9,254,200 
45,228,300 

Philippines  (1899-1900)  
Porto    Rico    (10    months 

20,597,  lo° 

19.751,100 

Japan  do  months)  

124  261,200 

si,  146,  800 

Kjtvpt  (10  months)  

French  Guiana  (6  months). 

1,648,800 

1,388,300 

U.  S.  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY 

THE  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  has 
assigned  the  following  field  par- 
ties for  work  during  this  season: 

Arizona:  T.  A.  Jaggar,  Waldemar 
Lindgren,  J.  M.  Boutwell,  F.  L/.  Ran- 
some,  John  D.  Irving,  and  R.  T.  Hill. 

Arkansas:  George  I.  Adams. 

California:  George  F.  Becker,  W. 
Lindgren,  J.  C.  Branner,  J.  S.  Diller, 
Geo.  H.  Eldridge,  and  H.  W!  Turner. 

Colorado:  C.  W.  Cross,  Ernest  Howe, 
J.  Morgan  Clements,  S.  F.  Emmons, 
John  D.  Irving,  and  George  I.  Adams. 

Connecticut:  William  H.  Hobbs  and 
H.  E.  Gregory. 

De /aware:  R.  D.  Salisbury  and  George 
B.  Sh  art  tick. 

Georgia:  Arthur  Keith. 

Idaho:  Bailey  Willis. 

Indiana:  George  H.  Ashley. 

Indian  Territory:  J.  A-  Taff  and 
George  I.  Adams. 


Kansas:  W.  S.  Tangier-Smith. 

Kentucky:  M.R.  Campbell  and  George 
H.  Ashley. 

Louisiana:  George  I.  Adams. 

Maryland:  Continuation  of  coopera- 
tive work  as  in  previous  years;  William 
B.  Clark,  E.  B.  Matthews,  and  George 

B.  Shattuck;  study  of  ancient  crystal- 
line rocks,  paleozoic  stratigraphy,  and 
coastal  plain  deposits. 

Massachusetts:  B.  K.  Emerson. 

Michigan :  Frank  Leverett,  F.  H. 
Taylor,  C.  R.  Van  Hise,  C.  K.  Leith, 
and  W.  S.  Bayley. 

Minnesota:  C.  R.  Van  Hise  and  J. 
Morgan  Clements. 

Missouri:  W.  S.  Tangier-Smith. 

Montana :  Continuation  of  special 
studies  in  the  Rocky  Mountains ; 
Charles  D.  Walcott,  director;  W.  E. 
Weed,  and  Bailey  Willis. 

Nevada:  G.  K.  Gilbert. 

New  Jersey :  R.  D.  Salisbury  and 
George  B.  Shattuck. 

New  Mexico:  George  H.  Girty,  R.  T. 
Hill,  and  C.  W.  Cross. 

New  York:  L.  C.  Glenn,  T.  N.  Dale, 
and  J.  F.  Kemp. 

North  Carolina:  Arthur  Keith. 

North  Dakota :    N.    H.    Barton    and 

C.  M.  Hall. 

Ohio:  Charles  S.  Prosser. 

Oklahoma:  J.  A.  Taff. 

Oregon:  J.  S.  Diller. 

Pennsylvania9:  Parts  of  Butler,  Ann- 
strong,  Indiana,  Washington,  West- 
moreland, Fayette,  and  Tioga  Counties, 
M.  R.  Campbell,  A.  C.  Spencer,  George 
B.  Richardson,  and  L,.  Fuller;  northern 
Pennsylvania,  George  H.  Girty;  Phila- 
delphia and  vicinity,  Prof.  Florence  Bas- 
com  and  C.  R.  Van  Hise  ;  refractory 
clays  of  Pennsylvania,  C.  W.  Hayes  : 
Fulton  and  Franklin  counties,  George 
W.  Stone;  coal  measures,  C.  D.  White. 

South  Carolina:  Arthur  Keith. 

South  Dakota  :  N.  H.  Darton  am 
J.  E.  Todd. 

Tennessee:  Arthur  Keith. 

Texas:  R.  T.  Hill  and  George  I. 
Adams. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


247 


Utah:  G.  K.  Gilbert. 

Vermont:  T.  N.  Dale  and  J.  E. 
Wolff. 

Washington:  F.  I/.  Ransome  and  Geo. 
Otis  Smith. 

West  Virginia:  Cooperation  with  State 
survey  under  Prof.  I.  C.  White;  Wayne 
county,  M.  R.  Campbell,  survey  of 
Ceredo  quadrangle. 

Wisconsin:  C.  R.  Van  Hise  and  W.  C. 
Alden. 

Wyoming:  W.  C.  Knight,  N.  H. 
Darton,  George  I.  Adams,  and  Arnold 
Hague. 

Dr.  Gregory ,who  was  to  have  had  charge 
of  the  scientific  work  of  the  British 
South  Polar  Expedition,  has  resigned 
his  connection  with  the  expedition. 
Friction  between  the  naval  and  scien- 
tific staffs  is  believed  to  be  the  cause  of 
his  withdrawal. 

Gen.  A.  W.  Greely,  Chief  Signal  Officer 
U.  S.  Army,  will  make  a  general  inspec- 
tion of  the  signal  service  in  the  Philip- 
pine Islands  during  the  present  season. 
The  larger  islands  of  the  archipelago  are 
now  connected  by  cable,  and  each  has 
a  telegraph  system  which  includes  most 
of  the  larger  towns. 

The  U.  S.  Biological  Survey  will  this 
summer  continue  the  study  of  the  geo- 
graphic distribution  of  animals  and 
plants  in  Texas.  The  Survey  has  been 
engaged  in  the  work  for  several  years, 
and  in  due  time  will  issue  maps  showing 
the  life  zones  and  faunal  areas  in  the 
State.  Mr.  Vernon  Bailey  has  charge 
of  the  work  and  has  already  begun  field 
operations  in  southwestern  Texas. 

Exploration  of  the  Sea. — A  meeting  of 
representatives  of  all  the  countries  bor- 
dering on  the  Baltic  and  North  Seas, 
excepting  France,  was  recently  held  in 
Christiania  to  confer  on  the  programme 
for  the  exploration  of  the  seas  between 
Greenland,  Iceland,  and  Norway.  Each 


of  these  nations  will  have  a  special  sec- 
tion assigned  to  it  for  study,  so  that  a 
complete  knowledge  of  the  currents, 
sea  bottoms,  etc  ,  may  be  soon  obtained. 
The  Norwegians  and  Russians  have  al- 
ready equipped  special  steamers  to  carry 
out  their  share  of  the  work,  and  work  on 
the  German  vessel  which  is  building  for 
the  same  purpose  is  well  advanced. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  has 
published  two  handsome  maps  of  Mexico 
on  the  scale  of  50  miles  to  the  inch.  The 
first  map,  besides  being  a  general  map 
of  the  country,  by  colors  shows  the  ele- 
vation of  every  part  of  the  Republic. 
It  also  gives  the  agricultural  features, 
showing  what  sections  are  wheat-grow- 
ing, what  are  favorable  to  the  great  Mex- 
ican staple  henequen,  etc.  The  second 
map  shows  the  distribution  of  minerals 
throughout  the  country  as  far  as  pros- 
pecting has  revealed  their  location. 
These  maps  are  the  result  of  much  re- 
search, combining  all  the  results  of 
latest  surveys.  The  Bureau  announces 
that  similar  maps  of  all  the  Central  and 
South  American  Republics  are  in  course 
of  preparation.  The  map  of  Brazil  is 
nearly  completed,  and  work  on  the  maps 
of  Guatemala  and  Costa  Rica  well  ad- 
vanced. 

The  Royal  Geographical  Society  has 
this  year  awarded  the  Founders'  medal 
to  the  Duke  of  Abruzzi  for  his  two  feats 
of  being  the  first  to  ascend  Mt.  St.  Elias 
and  of  gaining  what  is  now  ' '  farthest 
north,"  86°  33'.  The  expense  of  each 
of  these  expeditions  was  borne  mainly 
by  the  Duke,  though  his  uncle,  the 
late  King  Humbert,  generously  aided 
him.  The  Society  has  awarded  the 
Patrons'  medal*  to  Dr.  A.  Donaldson 
Smith  for  his  explorations  in  Central 
East  Africa  in  1894-' 95  and  1898-1900. 
Dr.  Smith  traversed  the  last  densely  in- 
habited area  remaining  unexplored  in 
Africa — the  country  between  L,ake  Ru- 
dolf and  the  White  Nile.  Awards  have 


248          THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


also  been  made  by  the  Society  to  Cap- 
tain Cagni,  of  the  Duke  of  Abrti/./.i's 
party,  and  to  Mr.  L.  Bernacchi  and 
Captain  Colbeck  for  aid  in  Borchgre- 
vink's  vSouth  Polar  Expedition.  King 
Ivhvard  VII  has  succeeded  Queen  Vic- 
toria as  Patron  of  the  Society. 

Philippine  Weather  Service.— The  Phil- 
ippine weather  service  has  now  scattered 
throughout  the  archipelago  some  20  tel- 
egraphic stations  from  which  advance 
warnings  of  the  approach  of  typhoons 
can  be  wired  to  Manila.  Before  the 
revolution  of  1897  Spain  had  a  number 
of  similar  stations  located  at  strategic 
points,  but  when  Dewey  entered  Manila 
Bay  not  one  remained  outside  of  the  city. 
After  the  occupation  of  the  islands  by 
the  American  Government  plans  were  at 


once  formed  by  the  Chief  of  the  U.  S. 
Weather  Bureau,  aided  by  Father  Jose-]  >h 
Algue,  S.  J.,  to  reorganize  and  extend 
the  former  service,  and  now  that  the 
pacification  of  the  islands  is  nearly  se- 
cured, these  plans  are  rapidly  becoming 
realized.  The  Philippine  service  is  in 
charge  of  the  Manila  Observatory,  with 
Father  Algue  as  director.  It  is  sup- 
ported by  the  funds  of  the  Philippine 
Government  rather  than  those  of  the 
United  States,  and  is  independent  of 
the  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau,  but  receives 
the  active  cooperation  and  assistance 
of  the  latter.  As  soon  as  enough  of  the 
islands  have  been  connected  by  cables 
the  U.  S.  Government  will  organize  an 
extensive  system,  and  the  Philippine 
service  will  be  incorporated  under  Fed- 
eral direction. 


GEOGRAPHIC    LITERATURE 


Report  of  the  Chief  of  the  Weather 
Bureau,  1899-1900.  U.  S.  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture.  Pp.436.  1901. 
Prof.  Willis  L.  Moore  gives  a  compre- 
hensive statement  of  one  year's  work  of 
this  great  scientific  branch  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. During  the  year  many  im- 
portant advances  were  made.  A  station 
established  at  Turks  Island  completed 
the  chain  of  stations  extending  from  the 
Lesser  Antilles  northwestward  to  Ber- 
muda and  the  southeastern  coast  of  the 
United  States.  Plans  were  formed,  and 
have  since  been  realized,  for  special 
storm  forecasts  for  the  North  Atlantic 
Ocean,  giving  the  wind  force  and  wind 
direction  for  the  first  three  days  of  the 
route  of  all  outgoing  steamers.  Ex- 
periments were  made  in  wireless  teleg- 
raphy, and  eminently  satisfactory  pro- 
gress made  in  the  investigation.  A  re- 
duction to  a  homogeneous  system  of  the 
barometric  observations  taken  by  the 
service  during  the  past  30  years  was  un- 


dertaken. The  total  eclipse  of  May  j.x, 
1900,  was  observed  by  Professors  Bige- 
low  and  Abbe,  at  Newberry,  S.  C.,  and 
new  information  (to  be  published  later  i 
obtained  regarding  the  effect  of  solar 
action  upon  the  earth's  atmosphere. 
Arrangements  for  distributing  forecasts 
and  warnings  to  vessels  navigating  the 
Great  Lakes  were  so  perfected  that  eacl 
of  the  20,000  vessels  that  passed  Detroit 
received  the  latest  weather  news,  and 
also  vessels  leaving  Chicago  and  the 
Great  Lake  ports.  Forecasts  of  cold 
waves,  of  hurricanes,  and  of  floods  saved 
millions  of  property. 

A  valuable  feature  of  the  report  are 
tables,  prepared  by  Prof.  A.  J.  Henry, 
giving  the  monthly  mean,  maximum, 
and  minimum  temperature,  pressure, 
and  moisture  of  170  Weather  Bureau 
stations.  The  meteorological  observa- 
tions of  Evelyn  B.  Baldwin  during  the 
Wellman  Arctic  Expedition  of  1898-' 99 
complete  the  report. 


VOL.  XII,  No.  7 


WASHINGTON 


THE     LINK    RELATIONS     OF     SOUTH- 
WESTERN  ASIA* 

BY    TALCOTT    WILLIAMS,    LL.  D. 


IN  history  a  vast  literature  exists  on 
southwestern  Asia,  the  one  region 
of  the  world's  surface  whose  writ- 
ten record  is  oldest,  most  continuous, 
and  most  full.  The  physical  features  of 
the  region  have  had  a  discussion  less 
full,  but  almost  as  long.  In  southwest- 
ern Asia  the  arc  of  the  celestial  sphere 
was  first  applied  to  the  measurement  of 
the  earth's  surface.  There  first  the  sign, 
the  hour,  the  degree,  the  minute,  and 
the  second  were  devised.  There  the 
earliest  maps  were  made.  There  the  first 
geographical  record  was  inscribed.  Our 
entire  knowledge  of  the  earlier  distribu- 
tion of  man  upon  the  earth  and  of  the 
condition  in  which  he  found  its  earlier 
physical  features,  when  his  conscious  life 
first  woke  to  their  impression,  influence, 
and  effect,  rests  upon  the  records  of  clay, 
in  stone,  and  on  papyrus  of  the  river 
valleys  of  southwestern  Asia  and  its 
linked  regions.  I  propose,  however,  to 
consider  alone  neither  the  history  nor 
the  physical  conditions  of  this  tract,  but 
to  endeavor  to  show  the  interrelation 
between  the  two,  the  causes  which  have 
made  this  part  of  the  earth' s  surface  pro- 


lific in  history,  the  guiding  principle 
which  in  every  age  has  determined  the 
course  of  these  annals,  and  the  fashion  in 
which  in  our  own  time  a  problem  which 
began  at  the  very  dawn  of  human  annals 
is  receiving  its  final  solution. 

THE  ASIAN  COAST-LINE 

In  dealing  with  any  continent  it  is  well 
for  us  to  orient  ourselves  by  considering 
in  their  simplest  relation  its  area  and 
coast-line.  If  the  area  of  each  of  the 
continents  be  represented  by  a  circle 
which  gives  its  relative  extent  contained 
in  the  smallest  possible  form,  and  out- 
side of  this  we  draw  another  circle,  giv- 
ing the  length  of  the  sides  of  its  ex- 
tremely irregular  reentrant  polygon,1  we 
have  presented  to  us  graphically  the  rel- 
ative access  which  the  continents  enjoy 
from  the  sea — an  access  which  consti- 
tutes the  great  source  of  perturbing  in- 
fluence, so  far  as  the  inhabitants  of  each 
continent  are  concerned.  If  this  ratio 

1  Development  of  Continental  Coast  Lines 
Relative  to  Area,  Geog.  Univ.,  Reclus,  E., 
Europe. 


*  A  lecture  delivered  before  the  National  Geographic  Society  March  5,  1901. 


250         THE  NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


is  very  large — and  it  is  larger  in  the  case 
of  Europe  than  any  other — the  access  of 
perturbing  influence  will  be  frequent  ; 
if  it  is  small  the  reverse  will  be  true.* 

Asia,  largest  in  absolute  area,  stands 
midway  with  reference  to  the  ratio  which 
its  coast-line  bears  to  its  area  between 
the  six  great  divisions  into  which  the 
earth's  surface  is  usually  divided,  three 
of  which  were  known  to  the  earliest 
geographers  of  the  region  of  which  we 
are  treating — a  region  which  stands  at 
the  junction  of  the  three.  The  ratio 
is  smaller  than  it  is  in  the  case  of  Eu- 
rope or  North  America  ;  it  is  larger 
than  that  of  Australia,  Africa,  or 
South  America.  A  priori,  therefore, 
we  might  simply,  with  these  relations 
before  us,  if  we  were  dealing  with  the 
affairs  of  an  unknown  planet  of  which 
we  knew  only  the  facts  presented  by 
these  areas  and  circles,  conclude  that  the 
most  mobile  conditions  would  exist  in 
the  continent  named  Europe  ;  that  these 
would  be  shared  by  North  America  ; 
that  the  affairs  of  Asia  would  offer  a 
mean  between  the  extreme  activity  of 
Europe  and  the  extreme  immobility  in 
the  history  and  development  of  Austra- 
lia. The  problem  which  we  have  to  con- 
sider with  our  larger  knowledge  is  to 
determine  the  interaction  which  these 
varying  relations  of  area  and  coast-line 
have  created  between  the  three  contig- 
uous continents  with  which  we  have  to 


deal,  whose  natural  mean  term  and  link 
is  southwestern  Asia. 

THE  RED  SEA  Rll-T 

With  the  general  characteristics  of 
Asia  you  are  already  familiar.  A-  I 
present  to  you  the  Eurasian  conti- 
nent,8 you  recognize  instantly  that  its 
central  core  is  that  great  east-and-\vc->t 
uplift  whose  western  center  is  the  Alps 
and  whose  eastern  upheaval  is  the  great 
boss  of  central  Asia,  too  large  to  be  desig- 
nated by  any  one  term.  This  great  and 
continuous  chain  is  crossed  at  right  an- 
gles upon  the  earth's  spheroid  by  that 
long  drawn  rift  or  gap  which  extends 
from  the  hollow  valleys  of  Coele-vSyria  to 
Lake  Tangan}rika  and  beyond,  to  which 
attention  was  first  called  by  Suess,  and 
which  has  been  more  fully  discussed  by 
the  English  geographer,  Mr.  J.  \Y. 
Gregory.4  This  range  extends  in  its 
subordinate  forms  to  the  very  edge  of 
that  other  great  rift — part  of  that  circle 
of  fire  which  rings  the  Pacific.  Prop- 
erly speaking,  one  might  say  there  are 
three  great  lines  of  volcanic  action  : 
one  old,  which  lies  at  right  angles  to 
the  great  Eurasian  uplift,  and  which 
is  in  a  condition  which,  in  the  case  of 
a  river,  we  should  call  its  last  stage  ; 
one  in  its  mid-stage  of  activity,  extend- 
ing parallel  to  it  along  the  eastern  coast 
of  Asia,  and  a  third,  which  appears, 


*The  figures  as  to  the  area  of   the  continents  are  necessarily  mere  approximations, 
following  table  gives  the  outline  as  presented  by  M.  Elise"e  Reclus  : 


The 


Europe. 

Asia. 

Africa. 

N.  America. 

S.  America. 

Australia. 

Total  area,  square  miles  . 
Mainland,  square  miles. 
Development  of   coast- 
line, miles  

4,005,100 
3,758,300 

18,600 
17,610 

i  :2.5 

17,308,400 
15,966,000 

34,no 
28,200 

i  =2.5 

11,542,400 
",293,930 

16,480 
18,480 

i  :i.4 

9,376,850 
7,973,700 

30,890 
26,510 

i  :3-i 

6,803,570 
6,731,470 

16,390 
16,390 

i  :i.8 

3,450,130 
2,934.5°° 

10,570 
14,400 

i  :  1.7 

Accessible  coasts  

Ratio  of  the  geometrical 
to  the  actual  contour  . 

'Relief  Sketch  Map  of  Eurasia,  Lambert's  Projection,  Butler's  School  Geographies. 

4  "  Das  Antlitz  der  Erde,"  Suess,  Edouard,  and  "The  Great  Rift  Valley,"  Gregory,  J.  W.,  1896. 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF   SOUTHWESTERN   ASIA      251 


Relief  Sketch  Map  of  Eurasia  —  Lambert's  Projection 

Courtesy  of  Messrs  Butler  and  Sheldon 


though  one  cannot  say  certainly,  not 
to  have  yet  reached  its  maximum  of 
activity,  but  in  an  area  like  that  crowd- 
ed volcanic  region  in  Central  America, 
to  be  still  in  what  one  might  call  the 
torrent  stage  of  a  river.  The  great  east- 
and-west  line  which  divides  Asia  has 
to  the  north  great  plains,  but  recently 
(speaking  in  a  geologic  sense)  sub- 
merged, and  to  the  south  groups  of  river 
valleys,  which,  in  the  case  of  the  Indo- 
Asian,  the  Indian,  and  the  Euphrates 
Valley,  abut  on  more  southern  regions 
of  an  older  type  and  now  wholly  or  par- 
tially submerged.  Asia  has,  in  short, 
an  abrupt  scarp  to  the  south,  a  sloping 
desert  plain  to  the  north,  and  the  great- 
est of  earth's  mountains  between. 

THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CITIES 

This  area  presents  itself  to  us  as  di- 
vided into  countries  settled  and  inhab- 
ited. Broad  tracts  there  are  to  the  north 
almost  without  population,  but  the  un- 


conscious impression  which  we  have  in 
regard  to  Asia  is,  as  with  most  parts  of 
the  earth's  surface  where  men  exist,  of 
a  uniform  film  of  population  spread  over 
the  entire  region,  not  greatly  differen- 
tiated. But  the  test  of  organized  popu- 
lation is  the  existence  of  cities.  The 
presence  or  absence  of  cities  measures 
not  only  the  density  of  population,  but 
the  extent  to  which  population  is  or- 
ganized in  society.  From  a  map  of  this 
region5  indicating  cities  of  over  50,000 
population,  the  smaller  dots  indicating 
cities  of  this  size  and  the  largest  going  up 
to  cities  of  1,000,000  population,  it  is 
apparent  that  the  city  population  of  the 
Eurasian  area  is  centered  in  three  dis- 
tinct groups.  These  lie  in  the  two  river 
systems  of  China,  in  north  India,  prin- 
cipally on  the  Ganges,  and  in  the  western 

5  "  Villes  sur  la  Surface  du  Globe,"  Almanach 
Hachette,  1900,  p.  293.  This  map  has,  as  most 
will  see,  another  origin,  but  I  have  referred  to 
the  fonn  in  which  I  found  it  most  suitable  for 
reproduction. 


252         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


VILLES    SUR 


part  of  Europe.  China  is  throughout 
a  thickly  populated  country,  but  its 
greater  cities  are  drawn  toward  the  coast 
and  lie  principally  in  a  crescent-shaped 
mass  from  the  mouth  of  the  Hoang-ho 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Si-kiang.  In  the 
same  way  the  cities  of  India  crowd  into 
the  valley  of  the  Ganges,  and  the  great 
bulk  of  the  city  population  of  Europe 
lies  in  the  narrow  ellipse  of  which 
Berlin  and  London  are  the  two  foci. 

THREE  ORGANIZED  AREAS 

The  area  which  we  are  considering, 
therefore,  instead  of  being  one  of  a  gen- 
eral and  indiscriminate  population ,  is  dif- 
ferentiated into  three  masses,  into  cities 
far  apart  on  the  east,  the  west,  and  the 
south  of  the  Eurasian  mass.  The  history 
of  the  world  for  many  thousand  years 
has  been  the  history  of  the  interaction 
of  these  three  great  masses  of  city  popu- 
lation. Each  demands  in  part  what  only 
the  other  two  can  furnish.  For  each 
of  the  three  great  masses,  as  in  all 
economic  integers,  prosperity  rests  not 
merely  upon  the  continuous  and  sym- 
metrical development  of  internal  re- 
sources, but  also  and  still  more  upon 
that  narrow  margin  of  advance  and 


profit  which  comes 

from  advantage- 
ous exchan 
When  these  th  rex- 
masses  of  popula- 
tion, which  early 
formed  themseh  x-s 
into  cities — for  the 
present  cities  of 
northern  Europe 
are  the  direct  de- 
scendants of  a  sim- 
ilar ellipse  of  cities 
along  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  which 
still  have  their  rep- 
resentatives there 
— enjoy  a  full,  un- 
broken exchange, 
these  three  groups 

are  prosperous.  When  an  interruption 
occurs  in  this  exchange,  there  come,  in 
any  one  of  the  three  which  is  in  a  posi- 
tion most  to  feel  the  interruption,  eco- 
nomic depression,  disaster,  revolution, 
extending  perhaps  to  a  social  cata- 
clysm. This  often  arises  not  because 
interruption  of  free  intercourse  between 
these  three  great  groups  of  cities  would 
alone  have  caused  catastrophe,  but  be- 
cause when  many  other  causes  of  an  in- 
ternal character  had  combined  to  weaken 
the  social  fabric,  the  shock  which  came 
by  the  loss  of  this  profit  was  sufficient 
to  destroy  unstable  equilibrium  and  to 
bring  a  sudden  ruin  which  otherwise 
would  have  gone  through  a  normal  de- 
generation and  deterioration.  So  far  as 
these  groups  appear  on  an  ordinary  ma]). 
communication  appears  easy.  A  broad 
extent  of  land  connects  all  three,  and 
the  ordinary  impression  is  one  of  con- 
nection, and  not  separation,  between  the 
different  parts  of  this  great  land  mass. 

THE  CORE  OF  ASIA 

These  city  groups  lie  outside  the  main 
core  of  the  continent.  If  the  rude  tra- 
pezium which  can  be  inscribed  within 
the  continental  mass  of  Asia  be  drawn 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF   SOUTHWESTERN   ASIA      253 


upon  its  surface,  as  in  the  accompany- 
ing diagram6,  the  city  regions  lie  out- 
side of  this  great  central  mass.  This  is 
true  of  both  the  earlier  lines  of  cities 
which  stretch  from  Ctesiphon  to  Italica, 
of  the  present  group  in  northern  Europe, 
and  of  the  more  modern  group  which 
extends  from  Moscow  to  Manchester, 
of  the  cities  of  India,  and  of  the  cities 
of  China.  In  fact,  if  the  eastern  line 
bounding  the  continental  core  of  Asia 
be  drawn  from  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of 


The  Continental  Core  of  Asia 

Courtesy  of  Hfessrs.  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

Tonkin  to  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  Pe- 
chi-li,  the  entire  city  area  of  China  will 
lie  to  the  east  of  this  line.  It  is  true, 
therefore,  of  the  highly  organized  parts 
of  the  Asiatic  continent  that  its  1,500, 
ooo  square  miles  of  mainland  all  lie  out- 
side of  the  great  land  mass.  The  space 
within  the  central  core,  which  amounts 
in  all  to  between  12,000,000  and  13, 
000,000  square  miles,  is  a  great  region, 
which,  as  it  stretches  before  us  on  the 
map,  is  seen  to  be  without  history, 
without  product,  without  letters,  and 
without  art.  Within  this  vast  area 
one-fifth  of  the  world's  surface,  whose 
history  began  early,  over  which  men 
have  moved  through  all  the  annals  of 
man,  there  is  no  spot  where  any  book 
has  been  produced  which  men  cherish; 

'"The  Continental  Core  of  Asia,"  Interna- 
tional Geography,  Mill,  Hugh  Robert,  1900, 
P-  423. 


thence  has  come  no  painting  or  statue 
which  men  admire.  There  is  no  lack 
in  this  area  of  battle,  murder,  and  sud- 
den death;  of  the  noise  of  the  captains 
and  the  shouting;  of  garments  rolled  in 
blood,  and  all  the  uproar  of  siege  and 
sack.  But  as  we  remember  its  wars, 
they  seem  to  us,  however  wide  our  his- 
torical knowledge,  as  fought 

On  a  darkling  plain, 
Swept  with  confused  alarms  of  struggle  and 

flight, 
Where  ignorant  armies  clash  by  night. 

ASIA'S  ARID  CLOSED  BASIN 

One  reason  why  this  main  core  is 
without  history  is  because  in  larger 
part  it  consists  of  a  closed  basin,  the 
largest  on  the  earth's  surface.7  This 
closed  basin,  whose  irregular  outlines 
bound  the  great  sea  which  once  matched 
the  Mediterranean  and  extended  in  a 
great  L-  shape  projection8  to  the  Arctic 
Ocean,  along  the  low  trough  in  which 
the  Obi  runs,  and  which  constitutes  the 
real  division  between  Asia  and  Europe, 
rather  than  the  Ural  Mountains,  is  di- 
vided into  two  portions  by  the  Kuen- 
lun  range,  the  southern  and  elevated 
plateau  from  12,000  to  15,000  feet  high; 
the  northern,  lower,  but  still  having 
an  average  elevation  of  5,000  or  6,000 
feet,  extending  to  the  low  watershed 
which  divides  the  series  of  rivers  that 
flow  toward  the  Arctic  from  the  group 
of  lakes  that  extends  across  Asia.  This 
area  is,  in  the  first  place,  closed  ;  this 
cuts  it  off  from  the  sea.  The  sea-flow- 
ing river  leads  to  the  sea,  and  the  sea 
leads  the  world  around.  Still  more  ; 
this  is  not  only  a  closed  basin  ;  it  is  a 
closed  basin  because  it  is  arid ;  for 
wherever  there  is  sufficient  rainfall,  an 
inner  basin  (as  has  been  the  case  with 
several  on  our  own  continent)  is  certain 

7 Arid  Regions,  Enclosed  Basins;  "Earth 
and  Its  Inhabitants  ;  "  Asia  ;  I,  p.  1 1.  Reclus, 
E.  1884. 

"The  Natural  Boundary  of  Europe  ;  "  Earth, 
&c.  ;"  Europe;  I,  p.  n*  Reclus,  E. 


2 54         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


\ 


.  8,000  Milw. 


Arid  Regions  and  Closed  Basin  of  Asia 

Courtesy  of  Messrs.  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

to  establish  connection  with  the  sea. 
The  streams  on  one  side  or  the  other 
eat  back  through  the  watershed,  "steal" 
the  source  of  an  earlier  and  less  vigor- 
ous stream,  and  bring  about  that  con- 
tinuous drainage  across  the  previous 
dividing  line  which  is  the  mark  of  so 
much  of  our  Appalachian  region.  Noth- 
ing of  this  kind  has  happened  with  this 
closed  basin,  which  from  the  earliest  his- 
tory has  remained  closed.  The  greater 
streams  of  Asia,  like  the  Indus  and  the 
Ganges,  have  eaten  longitudinally  in 
the  folds  of  the  great  system  in  which 
they  sprang,  and  have  not  cut  across  the 
watershed.  The  different  conditions  of 
China  from  those  of  India  appear  in  large 
measure  due,  however,  to  a  somewhat 
different  action  of  the  streams  there, 
though  this  awaits  further  investiga- 
tion. The  great  curve  of  the  Hoang- 
Ho  and  sundry  conditions  of  the  upper 
Yangtze  Kiang  indicate  the  coalescence 


of    valleys    previously   sepa- 
rate. 

The  eastern  part  of  this  en- 
closed area,  the  Great  Plain  of 
Turkestan,  extends  to  a  level 
below  the  surface  of  the  ocean ; 
but  all  the  three  parts,  the 
elevated  plateau  of  Tibet,  the 
less  elevated  area  of  Chinese 
Turkestan,  and  the  plains  of 
the  Khanates,  constitute  to 
gether  a  great  block  interfer- 
ing with  free  communication 
between  the  two  city  centers 
of  Asia  and  the  successive  city 
centers  of  Europe,  first  south 
and  then  north  of  the  Alps. 
Over  all  this  area  a  dense  pop- 
ulation has  never  been  possi- 
ble. Only  at  points  where 
irrigation  is  feasible  has  the 
population  ever  reached  a  high 
degree  of  civilization  in  tracts 
essentially  insular  in  their 
character,  cut  off  by  oceans  of 
desert,  and  able  to  develop 
insular  cultures  in  the  midst 
of  a  continental  area.  Two  great  high- 
ways extend  across  this  enclosed  basin. 
Of  the  two  areas  on  each  side  which 
are  open  to  the  ocean,  connecting  the 
Eurasian  centers  of  population,  the  one 
to  the  north  is  closed  by  cold. 

THE  LINK  REGION 

There  remains,  therefore,  in  the  great 
land  stretch  which  apparently  connects 
the  different  civilizations  of  the  Eurasian 
system  only  the  narrow  strip  of  ocean- 
drained  lands  which  extends  from  the 
Indus  to  Asia  Minor.  This  constitutes 
the  natural  highway  of  the  Eurasian 
system.  It  is  the  link  land  of  the  con- 
tinent. Its  history  has  had  an  internal 
development.  Its  external  relations. 
however,  the  growth  of  its  dynasties,  the 
course  of  its  culture,  the  development  of 
its  wealth,  and  the  channels  of  its  trade 
have  throughout  this  entire  region — 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF   SOUTHWESTERN   ASIA      255 


The  Mediterranean  Basin 

Courtesy  of  Messrs.  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 


which  on  our  maps  today  is  covered  by 
Afghanistan,  Baluchistan,  and  the  Per- 
sian and  Turkish  Empires — been  gov- 
erned by  its  position  as  a  narrow  cause- 
way between  the  populations  which 
grew  up  in  the  river  basins  of  China  and 
India  and  the  populations  which  devel- 
oped on  European  islands  and  penin- 
sulas, large  and  small,  old  and  new, 
from  the  days  of  the  Phoenician  galley  to 
the  days  of  the  English  tramp  steamer. 
The  primal  basal  fact  in  regard  to  any 
part  of  the  earth's  surface,  the  fact  which 
conditions  all  the  rest  and  inexorably 
determines  and  defines  human  devel- 
opment, history,  and  civilization,  is 
whether  it  partakes  in  its  coast  line  of 
the  Atlantic  or  Pacific  Coast  type. 
The  first  type,  now  a  familiar  common- 
place in  geography,  is  represented  by 
coasts  like  those  of  the  Atlantic,  of 
which  the  eastern  coast  of  North  and 
South  America  is  the  standard,  which 
show  a  minimum  of  change,  constitut- 
ing an  even  coast-line  in  which  the  hun- 
dred-fathom line  through  most  of  its 
course  preserves  so  steadfast  a  distance 
from  soundings  that  the  position  of  a 
vessel  can  over  most  of  this  area  be  in- 
stantly, though  approximately,  deter- 
mined by  its  discovery.  Such  a  coast  is 


continuous  in  its  outline,  quiescent  in 
its  mutations,  unbroken  in  its  develop- 
ment. To  such  a  coast-line  history  can 
be  transplanted.  On  such  a  coast-line 
history  has  never  originated.  The  sig- 
nificant example  of  the  Pacific  type  of 
coast,  on  the  other  hand,  is  represented 
by  the  western  half  of  that  rim  of  fire 
which  girdles  the  Pacific  and  which 
gives  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia  its  island 
continent  and  the  successive  volcanoes 
wrhich  appear  at  brief  intervals  from 
Krakatoa  to  the  Arctic  Circle.  This 
type  marks  the  true  coast  of  Asia  ;  on 
the  east  it  exists  in  northern  India,  and 
reappears  in  one  of  its  most  characteristic 
forms  on  the  northern  edge  of  the  Medi- 
terranean. If  we  reproduce  here  a  sum- 
mary of  the  distribution  of  these  types  of 
coast,9  it  is  immediately  apparent  that 
the  coast  of  China,  the  region  in  north 
India  in  which  its  two  great  river  valleys 
lie,  and  the  Mediterranean  region  are 
connected  by  a  narrow  strip  of  such  coast 
along  the  Persian  Gulf  and  the  Bay  of 
Bengal  of  the  same  mobile  type.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  east  coast  of  Africa, 
all  the  coast  of  Arabia,  including  that 
on  the  Red  Sea,  represent  coasts  of  an 

9  Der  Atlantischer  und  Stiller  Ozean  Typus. 


256         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


immobile  type,  in  which  fluctuations  of 
surface  have  long  since  reached  a  com- 
parative equilibrium.  Where  the  coast 
is  mobile,  changes  in  the  coast  con- 
stantly occur.  There  the  coast  will  be 
irregular,  and  the  approaching  and  pene- 
trating sea  will  carry 

Into  every  bare  inlet  and  creek  and  bay 

contact  and  the  seeds  of  development. 
The  northern  coast  of  the  Eurasian  re- 
gion is  bounded  by  an  immobile  coast- 
line, and  its  area  for  2,000  miles  inland 
is  of  a  monotonous  character,  which  ren- 
ders communication  or  the  diversifica- 
tion of  type  difficult.  The  development 
of  any  race  comes  where  there  is  a  diver- 
sity of  physiographic  conditions.  It  is 
therefore  significant  that  the  three  city 
regions  already  noted  are  joined  at  only 
one  point  along  southwestern  Asia  by  a 
strip  of  territory  under  physiographic 
conditions  similar  to  their  own.  This 
is,  of  course,  only  another  way  of  saying 


that  the  Taurus,  Caucasus,  and  other 
ranges  of  the  region  are  part  of  that  same- 
new  uplift  which  decides  the  northern 
outlines  of  the  Mediterranean  and  fixes 
the  sources  of  the  great  river  systems  of 
Asia.  In  its  fundamental  character- 
istics, therefore,  this  region  partake-  of 
those  coast  conditions  which  exist  in  tin- 
three  regions  of  which  it  is  a  link.  It 
is  provided  with  mountain  ranges  of  a 
similar  structure,  running  in  the  same 
general  direction,  presenting  the  same 
general  aspect,  and  furnishing,  there- 
fore, the  soil  for  transmission  of  comm<  m 
ideas  and  a  similar  social  structure. 

RAINFALL  AND  DEVELOPMENT 

Rainfall  determines  the  limits  of  hu- 
man development.  The  rainfall  of  the 
world  extends  from  a  precipitation  of 
from  three  to  five  inches  up  to  ten  feet; 
but  the  limits  of  this  rainfall  within 
which  any  civilization  is  possible  are 
narrow.  They  extend  practically  from 


ffMUailutHtr  JUttattpna 
L,,^J  Aei/ltAer  XOitentjpiu 


Map  Showing  Distribution  of  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Coast  Types 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF   SOUTHWESTERN   ASIA      257 


15  to  20  inches  up  to  45  or  50.  With  a 
rainfall  of  50  inches  few  civilizations 
exist.  With  a  rainfall  of  over  50  inches 
civilization  is  drowned  out.  A  rainfall 
of  less  than  10  or  15  inches  renders  cul- 
tivation impossible  unless  irrigation  is 
conducted  on  a  large  scale,  and  this  in- 
volves either  complete  isolation  from 
disturbance  on  the  part  of  small  com- 
munities or  a  share  on  the  part  of  a 
small  community  in  the  security  and 
capital  of  a  larger  nation,  with  suffi- 
cient resources  to  carry  out  an  exten- 
sive project  of  irrigation.  If,  as  in 
this  map,10  which  presents  rainfall,  the 
average  annual  precipitation  be  distrib- 
uted into  a  rainfall  of  under  25  centi- 
meters, from  25  to  50  centimeters,  from 
50  to  100  centimeters,  and  over  100 
centimeters,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  civ- 
ilized and  developed  regions  of  Asia  and 
Europe  have  a  rainfall  of  from  50  to  100 
centimeters;  but  there  lies  between  them 
a  broad  area  of  a  rainfall  of  under  25 
centimeters;  and  that  the  region  wrhich 
we  have  been  considering  has  over  it  a 
strip  of  rainfall  of  25  to  50  centimeters — 
a  mean  between  the  rainfall  in  which 
civilization  is  impossible  and  that  under 
which  it  best  flourishes.  Where  a  rain- 
fall as  small  as  this  falls  over  a  broad 
tract  of  uniform  modeling,  it  will  be  so 
distributed  and  diffused  as  to  do  little 
more  than  create  brief  green  patches  in 
the  winter  and  spring.  Where,  how- 
ever, it  meets  any  medium  mountain 
range  creating  valley  areas,  a  rainfall  of 
this  character  will  be  so  collected  as  to 
give  fertile  river  valleys  essentially  in- 
sular in  their  character,  which  will  be 
sheltered  from  disturbing  invasion  by 
stretches  around  less  easily  traversed 
and  in  some  respects,  as  in  the  desert 
west  of  Egypt,  a  greater  protection  than 
any  ocean  deep.  Such  a  stretch  of  re- 
duced rainfall  over  a  mountain  tract 
would  constitute,  therefore,  another  of 

10Jahrliche  Niederschlage  Mengen  in  "Grund- 
zuge  Physischen  Erdkunde,"  Supan,  L-,  1897, 
Taf.  XI. 


the  link  conditions  which  unite  the 
heavier  precipitation  under  which  civ- 
ilization develops. 

RAINFALL  AND  MOUNTAIN  TRACTS 

So  far  as  precipitation  is  concerned, 
therefore,  the  three  centers  of  the  Eura- 
sian system  are  separated  by  regions 
of  insufficient  rainfall  north  and  south. 
Across  these,  just  north  of  that  high 
barometric  area  along  the  thirtieth  par- 
allel, which  constitutes  so  important  a 
climatic  influence  in  the  North  Temper- 
ate Zone,  stretches  a  region  of  medium 
rainfall  for  which  the  mountain  system 
of  southwestern  Asia  gives  exactly  the 
conditions  which  permit  the  early  devel- 
opment of  isolated  civilizations  in  a  re- 
gion where  the  development  of  man  is 
not  impeded,  as  it  is  over  the  forest 
region  which  once  stretched  from  the 
Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  across  the  Eura- 
sian system  or  by  the  desert  region  to  the 
south.  At  this  point,  therefore,  the  hyp- 
sometric conditions  cooperate  with  the 
rainfall  produced  by  the  distribution  of 
isobars  and  other  causes  to  create  in  this 
linked  region  the  opportunities,  not  for 
extensive  and  heavy  population,  but  for 
nests  and  centers  of  population.  Climate, 
which  is  rainfall  plus  place  and  temper- 
ature, enforces  this  condition  still  more 
clearly.  The  Mediterranean  basin  con- 
stitutes a  distinct  climatic  region,  sepa- 
rated on  the  one  side  from  the  steppe 
climate  of  eastern  Europe  and  from  the 
moderate  climate,  due  to  warm  currents 
of  air,  in  western  Europe.  India  and  the 
island  world  to  the  southeast  constitute 
another  climate,  not  unlike  in  its  uniform 
conditions  to  the  Mediterranean  basin, 
though  wholly  unlike  in  its  tempera- 
ture and  precipitation.  This  has  to  the 
north  the  steppe  climate  of  central  Asia 
and  the  climate  of  China,  as  with  that  of 
Europe,  modified  by  air  drifts.  Be- 
tween these  two  regions,  as  the  distri- 
bution of  climate  by  Supan  shows,  the 
mountain  region,  extending  from  the 


258         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF   SOUTHWESTERN   ASIA      259 


Die  Klima-Provinzen 


Map  Showing  Climatic  Divisions 


1.  West  Europe 

2.  East  Europe 

3.  West  Siberia 

4.  East  Siberia 

5.  Kamchatka 

6.  China  and  Japan 

7.  Asiatic  Plateau 

8.  Aral 

9.  Indus 

10.  Iranic  Plateau 

11.  Mediterranean 


12.  Sahara 

13.  Tropical  Africa 

14.  Kalahari 

15.  Cape 

16.  East  India 

17.  Australia 

1 8.  South  West  Australia 

19.  - 

20.  New  Zealand 

21.  Polynesia 


260         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


valley  of  the  Indus  to  the  coasts  of  Asia 
Minor — a  region  decreasing  in  elevation 
as  it  passes  from  the  mountainous  up- 
lift looking  down  upon  the  Indus  to  the 
plateau  of  Iranistan,  and  so  on  to  the 
broken  ranges  in  which  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates  have  their  mountain  origin — 
furnishes  continuous  climatic  condi- 
tions. In  its  culture,  the  mountainous 
region  has  varied  yet  it  has  kept  some- 
what similar  culture  conditions,  while 
the  plain  and  rivers  below,  toward  the 
Persian  Gulf  and  the  Indian  Ocean, 
have  as  constantly  furnished  the  devel- 
opment of  commerce  and  cultivation. 


Considered  with  reference  to  climate, 
therefore,  the  region  which  we  are  con- 
sidering again  appears  as  a  link  region, 
lying  between  the  climatic  conditions 
which  exist  over  the  Sahara  and  Arabia 
•  and  those  which  obtain  in  the  Eurasian 
plains  from  the  Vistula  to  the  Asian 
uplift.  Nor  is  it  without  its  close  con- 
nection with  the  various  history  that 
has  there  appeared  that  this  region  has 
in  Asia  Minor  a  climate  at  so  many 
points  closely  resembling  that  of  the 
high  interior  of  Asia,  so  that  from  \\ot- 
ern  Asia  Minor  to  the  north  of  eastern 
Tibet  the  same  Turkish  language  may 


D  ie  Florenreiche 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF   SOUTHWESTERN   ASIA      261 


TflorphologischenHauptgebiete 
dertnle 


be  heard,  the  same  tents  seen,  and  the 
same  tribal  customs  studied  under  the 
scattered  and  isolated  conditions  of  no- 
madic life. 

FLORA  BOUNDING  CULTURE  REGIONS 

The  flora  of  a  region,  which  is  a  blend 
of  the  influences  of  its  physiography, 
its  precipitation,  and  its  climate,  makes 
these  relations  still  more  clear.  The  flora 
also,  since  its  limits  define  the  bounds  of 
agriculture,  constitutes  sharper  bound- 
aries for  varying  culture  than  are  fur- 


nished by  any  other  physical  condition. 
While  the  climate  and  precipitation  of 
the  Mediterranean,  the  north  African, 
and  the  southwestern  Asian  region  vary, 
the  same  flora  extends  from  the  western 
flanks  of  the  valley  of  the  Indus  to  the 
Pillars  of  Hercules.  Essentially  the 
same  flowering  plants  flourish  from  the 
southern  edge  of  the  Pyrenees,  Alps, 
and  the  Julian  chain  to  the  southern 
edge  of  the  Atlas,  and  the  more  favored 
Saharan  oases.  Substantially  the  same 
genera,  with  far  smaller  variations  also 
in  species  than  would  be  anticipated, 


262         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


are  to  be  found  in  the  valleys  of  Morocco 
and  Baluchistan,  of  Afghanistan  and 
the  Iberian  peninsula.  Over  this  entire 
region  closely  similar  deciduous  trees 
and  annuals  almost  as  similar  flourish. 
Over  them,  consequently,  the  same  agri- 
culture is  possible.  As  will  be  seen,  in 
Supan's  distribution  of  floral  kingdoms, 
this  floral  region  which  abuts  to  the 
north  in  Europe  on  the  flora  of  the 
great  forest,  of  which  so  few  remnants 
are  left,  between  the  North  Sea  and 
the  Sea  of  Okhotsk,  which  touches  on 
the  east  upon  the  flora  of  inner  Asia, 
and  which  is  flanked  to  the  south  by 
the  typical  flora  of  Africa,  Madagascar, 
and  India — at  so  many  points  furnishing 
the  proof  of  an  earlier  connection — con- 
stitutes a  connecting  link  in  limitations 
of  precipitation,  climate,  and  vegeta- 
tion which  permit  substantially  similar 
human  culture  and  ideals  to  exist  over 
the  entire  area.  Substantially  within 
these  limits  were  felt  the  influences  of 
the  earlier  empires  from  the  fourth  to  the 
first  millennium  before  Christ.  Within 
them  swayed  the  refluent  tides  of  the  suc- 
cessive empires  in  the  first  millennium 
before  and  the  first  millennium  after 
Christ,  beginning  with  the  Persian  ex- 
pansion and  ending  with  that  of  Islam. 
This  region,  therefore,  in  wrhich  nearly 
all  Eurasian  fruits  and  so  large  a  share 
of  the  food  plants  of  civilization  were 
first  cultivated,  in  this  respect  is  again 
seen  to  be  a  connecting  link  between 
the  rice  and  wheat  civilizations  of  Asia 
and  the  wheat  civilizations  of  Europe. 

SOUTHWESTERN  ASIA  AS  A  DIKE 

If  we  now  collate  these  facts  with 
reference  to  elevations  and  return  again 
to  the  distribution  of  levels  \vith  which 
we  began,  it  becomes  plain  that  what 
we  are  really  considering  in  these  vary- 
ing conditions  is  the  fact  that  the  Great 
Uplift  is  really,  in  the  region  which  we 
are  discussing,  a  narrow  dike  of  moun- 
tains between  the  comparatively  flat 


lands  which  extend  from  Arabia  to  the 
Atlantic,  which  we  know  as  the  Saharan 
region,  and  the  other  great  flat  area 
which  abuts  on  the  northern  edge  of 
the  inclosed  region  we  have  already 
mentioned,  and  extends  from  the  west- 
ern boundary  of  Russia  to  eastern  Sibe- 
ria. This  strip,  which  one  might 
almost  term,  borrowing  a  physiological 
analogy,  connective  tissue  between  the 
developed  regions  in  India  and  China 
and  those  of  Europe,  is  in  the  last  analy- 
sis a  sort  of  mountain  rampart  which 
separates  the  flat  lands  of  central  A>ia. 
with  one  definite  type,  from  the  flat 
lands  of  Africa  and  Arabia,  with  another 
type  as  definite.  This  rampart  is  also 
so  situated  with  reference  to  atmos- 
pheric currents  that  it  carries  along  the 
conditions,  so  far  as  human  life  is  con- 
cerned, which  exist  along  the  northern 
edge  of  the  Mediterranean. 

RACIAL  DISTRIBUTION 

The  effect  of  this  upon  human  life  first 
appears  in  race.  The  races  of  men  are  in 
general  terms  distributed  in  the  eastern 
hemisphere  in  three  great  masses  :  the 
yellow  race  occupies  eastern  Asia,  hold- 
ing the  region  which  has  already  been 
clearly  indicated  as  the  flat  lands  of 
northern  Asia,  its  central  uplift,  and  its 
eastern  coast ;  the  white  race  in  its 
various  forms  extends  from  India, 
connected  by  the  tract  we  are  consid- 
ering with  white  expansion  in  Europe, 
Arabia,  and  North  Africa,  and  the 
black  race  holds  two-thirds  of  the  Afri- 
can continent.  This  general  distribu- 
tion sufficiently  indicates  the  fashion 
in  which  southwestern  Asia  has  given 
the  bridge,  whatever  theory  we  adopt  as 
to  the  origin  of  the  Aryan  race,  either 
that  the  race  left  India  and  spread 
over  Europe  and  the  Mediterranean 
basin,  or  starting  in  Europe  has  found 
its  way  into  India,  occupying  that 
peninsula  until  it  reached  in  Indo-Asia 
and  the  inner  inclosed  basin  of  the  con- 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF   SOUTHWESTERN   ASIA      263 


tinent  the  tenacious  boundaries 
of  the  yellow  race.  These 
have  remained  substantially 
unaltered  from  the  earliest 
gleams  of  race  relations.  A 
similar  tenacious  boundary  ex- 
i.-.ts  in  the  African  continent, 
following  closely,  though  not 
absolutely,  since  this  itself  in- 
dicates a  physiographic  condi- 
tion, the  southern  line  of  the 
date  palm  and  the  northern 
line  of  the  banana.  But  when 
we  adopt  a  closer  scrutiny  of 
races,  as  in  the  map,  page  264, 
in  which  the  chiet  effort  has 
been  to  indicate  the  interrela- 
tion of  the  races,  whose  wider 
arrangement  has  been  already 
portrayed,  we  discover  that  the 
bridge  of  which  we  have  spoken 
constitutes  the  one  region  in 
which  there  has  been  a  con- 
fused admixture  of  the  various 
types  which  exist  north  and 
south  of  the  Mediterranean  and  north 
and  south  of  the  Himalayan  uplift, 
north  and  south,  in  short,  of  the  great 
depression  which  divides  Europe  from 
Africa  and  the  great  elevation  which  di- 
vides northern  from  southern  Eurasia. 
On  southwestern  Asia  have  flowed  from 
the  north  the  tides  of  the  nomad  life  in 
the  great  plains,  which  extend  without 
a  break  from  northeastern  Siberia  to  the 
Caucasus  and  the  Ural.  Against  it 
have  flowed  from  the  south  the  Berber 
and  Arab  tribes,  Hamitic  and  Semitic, 
and  in  some  places,  as  in  the  inclosed 
basins  of  Asia  Minor  and  the  basin, 
once  as  closed,  though  now  opened,  of 
the  Hungarian  plains,  congeners  of  the 
yellow  races  have  forced  their  way.  In  a 
long,  detached,  straggling  line  the  white 
races  hold  a  slender  pathway  from  their 
great  mass  in  Europe  to  their  great  mass 
in  India.  Each  of  these  divisions  guided 
men  by  the  culture  developed  in  their 
native  region,  feeling  their  way  along 
the  parts  of  that  diversified  region  be- 


The  Races  of  Mankind  Before  the  European 
Invasion 


tween  the  plains  about  the  Sea  of  Aral 
and  the  plains  about  the  Red  Sea,  to- 
gether with  the  Aryan  entrance  from 
east  or  west,  to  whatever  parts  of  this 
tract  best  suit  the  culture  which  each 
has  developed  in  its  own  home. 

FAUNAL  DIVISIONS 

What  is  true  of  this  linked  relation  is 
true  also  of  the  fauna.  This  elevated 
tract  between  the  plains  of  Arabia  to 
the  south  and  the  plains  of  Tartary  to 
the  north,  with  its  coterminous  condi- 
tions of  rainfall,  climate,  and  flora,  car- 
ries analogous  animal  conditions  across 
the  Eurasian  mass  from  east  to  west. 
The  roe  deer  among  the  Cervidae,  repre- 
senting in  size,  in  agility,  and  in  a  more 
graceful  outline  the  gradual  change  from 
the  bulkier  forms  of  the  northern  species 
of  the  deer  to  the  more  slender  outlines 
of  the  antelope,  is  found  upon  the  Pa- 
cific coast  in  north  China  and  in  another 
extended  habitat  over  Europe.  These 


264         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF   SOUTHWESTERN    ASIA      265 


two  faunal  regions  are  joined  as  to  this 
species  by  a  narrow  bridge,  where  the 
roe  deer  is  found,  across  Asia  Minor  and 
northern  Persia;  and  where  the  roe  deer 
runs  there  has  always  been  the  dawn  or 
the  full  presence  of  organized  law,  of  sta- 
ble institutions  and  statecraft,  whose  ear- 
liest game  laws  are  often  devoted  to  the 
preservation  of  this  creature  of  the  chase. 
The  pheasant,  another  genus  which  con- 
notes distinctly  marked  limits  of  rain- 
fall, of  climate,  and  of  a  certain  produc- 
tion of  seed  and  insect,  in  like  manner 
stretches  across  this  continental  mass,  in 
another  rude  linked  shape,  two  larger 
masses  lying  east  and  west,  whose  con- 
nections extend  through  the  region 
which  we  are  considering,  and  whose 
species  enjoy  a  sufficiently  similar  en- 
vironment to  render  it  possible  to  trans- 
plant the  Chinese  pheasant  to  the  pre- 
serves of  England.  Among  the  greater 
carnivora,  the  dividing  line  between  the 
tiger  and  the  lion  runs  across  this  re- 
gion. The  tiger  represents  the  extreme 
Asiatic  type  of  the  Felidae  ;  the  lion, 
the  extreme  African.  The  one  has  his 
most  powerful  development  in  Uganda, 
and  the  other  in  India.  The  lion  ex- 
tends to  extreme  tropical  regions  and  be- 
yond to  the  South  Temperate  Zone,  and 
the  tiger  to  Siberia  and  the  arctic  cold 
of  the  mountain  regions  in  Manchuria. 
The  two  meet  and  mingle  across  the 


valley  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  uplands 
of  Iranistan.  Both  at  the  point  of  junc- 
ture are  reduced  to  their  lesser  sizes  and 
are  less  dangerous  to  man  than  in  their 
centers  of  largest  growth,  and,  it  is 
possible,  of  original  development ;  but 
their  common  home  exists  only  along 
the  uplands  we  are  considering,  though 
it  is  difficult  to  give  any  reason  why  the 
lion  should  not  have  spread  over  Asia  or 
the  tiger  should  not  have  pushed  his  way 
into  Arabia  and  so  on  into  the  African 
jungle.  Instead,  they  meet  without 
penetrating  farther,  like  their  predatory 
human  congeners  on  each  side  of  the 
same  line,  the  Arabian  to  the  south  and 
the  Turk  or  Tatar  to  the  north.  While 
the  line  is  less  clearly  drawn,  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  the  ass  and  the 
horse  meet  in  the  same  region,  the  ass 
representing  an  Arabian  or  Persian  ori- 
gin and  the  horse,  in  all  probability, 
harking  back  to  the  Asian  plain.  There 
is  some  reason  to  think  that  varieties  of 
camel,  Bactrian  and  Arabian,  meet  at 
this  point.  It  is  only  on  the  caravan 
roads  of  Persia  and  extreme  eastern 
Turkey  that  one  may  from  time  to  time 
see  the  single  hump,  the  light  coat,  the 
somewhat  more  nimble  form  of  the  Ara- 
bian camel,  with  the  ruder  outlines,  the 
woolly  coat,  and  the  bulkier  though  simi- 
lar shape  of  the  Bactrian  representative 
of  the  species. 


(  To  be  concluded  in  the  August  number} 


CHINA:     HER   HISTORY   AND   DEVELOP- 
MENT ::: 


Bv  JOHN  BARRETT,  FORMERLY  MINISTER  TO  SIAM 


D 


YNASTY  upon  dynasty,  includ- 
ing the  great  Sung,  from  960  to 

1126,  followed.     In  this  period 

were  wars  of  the  Chinese  against  the 
Khitans  and  the  Kins,  until  finally  the 
invincible  Mongols  commenced  their 
conquest,  and  the  way  was  prepared  for 
those  famous  men  of  Chinese  history, 
Genghis  and  Kublai  Khan.  No  more 
interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of  any 
nation  can  be  found  than  the  record  of 
the  conquering  armies  of  these  Mon- 
golian Alexanders  or  Caesars  or  Napo- 
leons. It  is  doubtful  if  any  one  of  these 
three  was  a  greater  man  than  Genghis 
or  Kublai  Khan.  Genghis,  his  son 
Okkodai,  and  his  grandson  Kublai  were 
natural  leaders  of  men  and  possessed 
rare  militarj-  genius.  They  made  in- 
vasions and  conquests  equal  in  danger 
and  difficulties  to  that  of  Hannibal  into 
Italy,  Alexander  into  India,  Caesar  into 
Great  Britain,  and  Napoleon  into  Egypt 
or  Russia.  Marco  Polo  has  sung  the 
praises  of  Kublai,  but  the  records  of 
China  tell  likewise  of  his  reign.  Ganghis 
and  Kublai  Khan,  with  Confucius,  Men- 
cius,  and  Li  Hung  Chang,  are  the  five 
great  names  of  Chinese  history  that 
corns  readily  to  our  minds. 

The  Khitan  Tatars,  who  had  harassed 
the  Chinese  and  were  in  turn  harassed  by 
the  Khin  Tatars,  went  down  with  the 
Khins  before  the  Mongols  under  the 
leadership  of  Genghis.  He  extended 
his  empire  from  the  Caspian  to  the  China 
Sea.  His  sway  embraced  forty  con- 
quered kingdoms,  and  he  was  making 
war  on  the  Chinese  when  he  died — about 
nine  hundred  years  ago— and  ordered 
his  valiant  son  Okkodai  to  continue  his 
labors. 


Okkodai  was  pursuing  the  invasion  of 
China  with  slow  but  sure  results,  for  the 
Chinese  resisted  with  wonderful  brav- 
ery, when  he  died,  and  was  succeeded 
by  the  mighty  Kublai.  He  was  the  real 
conqueror  of  China.  At  Yaishau  he 
fought  the  greatest  battle  in  the  annals 
of  China  ;  200,000  men  were  killed,  in- 
cluding Ti  Ping,  the  last  emperor  of  the 
Sung  dynasty.  It  was  fortunate  for  his- 
torical record  that  Marco  Polo  was  in 
Asia  during  the  reign  of  Kublai  ;  other- 
wise the  foreign  world  would  never  have 
appreciated  the  greatness  of  the  man 
and  his  kingdom.  When  he  passed 
away,  in  1224,  at  the  ripe  age  of  83,  he 
was  absolute  autocrat  of  the  most  ex- 
tensive empire  of  all  time. 

THE   MONGOL  SWAY 

Thus  in  China  there  sat  upon  a  throne 
almost  in  modern  days  an  emperor  wh< 
practically  held  all  Asia  and  part  of 
Europe  in  his  grasp.  No  Roman,  nc 
Greek,  no  ancient  or  modern-  Europea 
king  has  ever  held  such  sway  ;  and  yet 
some  superficial  critics  class  China  as  a 
land  of  barbarians,  without  history  or 
civilization  which  can  be  compared  with 
that  of  Europe  or  America.  It  is  sug- 
gestive of  later  events  that  his  only 
signal  defeat  was  experienced  when  he 
strove  to  annex  Japan.  Two  great  ex- 
peditions against  the  intrepid  islanders 
suffered  disaster,  and  Japan  remained  in- 
dependent. Kublai  even  favored  Chris- 
tianity. He  was  a  good  monarch,  and 
ruled  his  people  with  kindness,  but  his 
successors  were  not  equal  to  their  re- 
sponsibilities. 

Thus   again   history  repeated   itself. 


*  Concluded  from  the  June  number. 


CHINA:    HER    HISTORY   AND    DEVELOPMENT      267 


The  Mongol  sway  degenerated.  The 
famous  Ming  dynasty  was  ushered  in 
about  the  middle  of  the  i4th  century, 
in  1365,  and  remained  in  power  for  two 
-centuries.  Romantic  as  it  may  seem, 
the  first  of  the  Mings  was  the  son  of  a 
poor  laborer  in  the  Yangtze  Valley, 
who  saw  his  opportunity,  seized  it,  led 
the  Chinese  armies  to  victory,  estab- 
lished his  capital  at  Nankin  on  the 
Yangtze,  declared  himself  emperor  under 
the  name  of  Taitsu,  and  made  a  success- 
ful expedition  to  Pekin,  entering  the 
northern  capital  unopposed  with  flying 
banners.  The  story  of  the  Mings  is  one 
for  the  greater  part  of  wars  with  the 
Tatars,  insurrections,  expeditions,  and 
disturbances,  with  now  and  then  a  period 
of  quiet  and  content,  when  education, 
art,  literature,  and  agriculture  were  fos- 
tered. 

When  the  assertion  is  made  that  the 
Chinese  are  not  a  warlike  people,  it  as- 
suredly is  not  based  on  the  martial  rec- 
ords of  the  bloody  past.  It  seems  that 
the  major  portion  of  Chinese  history  is 
like  a  prize  fight,  if  I  may  use  the  homely 
figure.  There  is  a  round  of  hot,  fast 
blows  ;  then  there  is  a  minute  of  rest  and 
a  breathing  spell,  followed  by  another 
period  of  merciless  hammering^  until 
one  man  succumbs  and  the  other  wins. 
China  for  nearly  fifty  centuries  has  been 
a  ring,  and  the  emperors,  dynasties,  and 
different  races  or  tribes  have  been  the 
fighters  for  the  prizes  of  dominion  and 
empire. 

This  incessant  warring  by  Cathay  of 
75  cycles  has  in  it  a  suggestion  of  warn- 
ing for  the  rest  of  the  world  which  must 
not  be  despised.  Shall  we  not  study  the 
Chinese  all  the  more  carefully  that  the 
American  people  may  cooperate  with 
rather  than  antagonize  such  a  powerful 
and  persistent  race  in  Asia  ?  No  other 
people  of  intense  political  activity,  from 
the  earliest  records  of  man  to  the  present 
hour  of  writing,  has  had  such  a  marvel- 
ous history  of  persistent  success  over  all 
difficulties.  What  are  America's  400 


years    since     Columbus    compared    to 
China's  fifty  centuries? 

As  we  are  now  approaching  the  mod- 
ern era,  I  shall  bring  my  hurried  view  of 
China's  history  to  an  early  conclusion. 
It  has  been  my  chief  purpose  to  reach 
back  to  that  far-distant  past  of  which 
the  world  knows  too  little.  What  has 
occurred  in  later  times  and  in  recent 
days  is  so  well  known  and  so  well  de- 
scribed in  numerous  books  that  I  shall 
not  endeavor  to  even  carefully  sum- 
marize it.  We  are  too  apt  to  look  upon 
China's  past  as  a  blank,  when  in  reality 
it  is  a  well-nigh  limitless  period  of  cease- 
less activity.  China  need  not  be  other 
than  proud  of  it.  She  has  produced 
warriors,  statesmen,  philosophers,  and 
poets  that  equal  those  of  other  great 
peoples.  The  more  she  is  studied  the 
more  profound  will  be  our  admiration 
of  her  and  her  people,  and  the  less  we 
will  think  of  her  as  a  weak  state,  and  of 
her  people  as  dirty,  cruel  coolies,  with- 
out credit  for  the  past  or  hope  for  the 
future.  China  and  the  Chinese  have 
abundant  shortcomings,  but  none  can 
deny  that  they  have  a  wonderful  history. 

THE    ACHIEVEMENTS    OF  THE 
MANCHUS 

The  end  of  the  Ming  dynasty  brings 
us  to  the  beginning  of  that  of  the  Man- 
chus,  which  now  controls  the  throne  of 
China.  In  1644,  257  years  ago,  the 
present  dominant  dynasty  began  its 
reign..  In  view  of  the  events  of  years 
gone  by,  it  would  not  be  surprising  if 
the  time  were  approaching  for  a  new 
dynasty  that  will  make  China  again  one 
of  the  great  powers  of  the  world.  Pos- 
sibly a  Wan  Wang,  a  Kublai  Khan,  or 
a  Taitsu  is  needed  for  the  successful 
consummation  of  a  radical  movement 
for  progress.  May  Kwangsu  himself 
prove  that  he  is  equal  to  the  opportu- 
nity and  responsibility. 

The  achievements  of  the  Manchus 
have  not  been  limited  or  small.  They 


268 


THE  NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


have  done  their  part,  and  compare  favor- 
ably with  the  preceding  dynasties.  Be- 
ginning in  response  to  an  invitation 
of  the  Chinese  to  drive  out  a  Tatar 
usurper,  they  became  in  forty  years  the 
masters  of  China,  showing  surprising 
power  and  valor.  Among  the  Manchu 
heroes  was  Koshinga,  a  semi-piratical 
leader,  who  expelled  the  Dutch  from 
Formosa. 

In  the  early  days  of  this  dynasty  em- 
bassies began  to  arrive  from  western 
nations,  and  the  Jesuit  missionaries  held 
high  places  on  account  of  their  mathe- 
matical and  astronomical  knowledge. 
Formosa  was  conquered  and  Chinese  au- 
thority was  made  paramount  in  Tibet. 
Of  Kanghi,  who  reigned  for  61  years, 
or  a  cycle  of  Cathay,  and  made  the 
Manchu  sway  complete  over  China,  it 
is  written  :  ' '  The  public  acts  and  mag- 
nificent exploits  of  his  reign  show  him 
wise,  courageous,  magnanimous,  and 
sagacious.  In  the  smallest  affairs  he 
seems  to  have  been  truly  great. ' ' 

In  later  reigns  wars  .were  waged 
against  the  Burmese  and  the  indomitable 
Goorkas  in  Nepaul,  who  had  invaded 
Tibet.  Kien-Lung  was  another  emperor 
of  the  Kanghi  greatness,  and  under  him 
relations  with  the  outer  wrorld  and 
knowledge  of  it  among  the  people  grew 
rapidly.  Then  followed  Kia  King,  and 
then  his  famous  son  Tau  Kwang,  who 
was  emperor  when  the  first  war  with 
England  aroused  both  China  and  Europe 
and  practically  opened  the  former  to  the 
trade  of  foreign  nations.  His  reign 
ended  with  the  Taiping  rebellion,  which 
swept  over  such  a  large  portion  of  China, 
and  was  finally  concluded  through  the 
skillful  leadership  of  the  eminent  Chi- 
nese Gordon,  who  later  was  cruelly 
assassinated  at  Khartum.  Hienfung, 
of  mediocre  abilities,  succeeded  Tau 
Kwang.  Tung  Chi,  under  whom  the 
Taiping  rebellion  was  subdued,  followed 
Tau  Kwang.  The  Mohammedan  rebel- 
lion was  another  period  of  destructive 
interior  wars,  and  Kwangsu,  the  present 


emperor  and  cousin. of  Tung  Chi,  came 
to  the  throne. 

It  has  been  my  privilege  to  have 
led  rapidly  in  review  Chinese  dynas- 
ties, emperors,  empresses,  feudal  lords, 
usurpers,  philosophers,  historians,  trav- 
elers, merchants,  and  diplomatists  who 
have  figured  in  the  annals  of  Chinese 
history  from  Fuhhi,  3,000  years  be- 
fore Christ  and  5,000  years  before  the 
present  era,  down  to  the  brilliant  'IVi 
An,  who  controls  through  Kwangsu  the 
destinies  of  China  at  the  beginning  of 
the  aoth  century. 

FOREIGN  RELATIONS 

The  foreign  relations  in  the  modern 
sense  are  chiefly  limited  to  the  last  fifty 
years.  Interesting  events  that  have  a 
direct  bearing  on  the  present  have,  how- 
ever, occurred  through  the  past  two  cen- 
turies. Only  a  few  salient  points  can 
be  here  emphasized. 

With  Manchuria  and  Russia  before 
our  eyes  every  day  in  the  papers,  we 
note  that  the  first  treaty  between  China 
and  Russia  was  imposed,  as  a  result  of 
a  five-years'  war,  by  the  former  on  the 
latter,  in  1689.  By  this  the  whole  of 
the  Amur  Valley  was  placed  in  China's 
hands.  Nearly  two  centuries  later,  or 
in  1858,  Count  Muravieff  secured  for 
Russia  the  Amur  Province,  while  in  1 860 
General  Ignatieff ,  taking^  advantage  of 
the  presence  of  the  Anglo-French  troops 
at  Pekin,  transferred  to  Russia  with  a 
stroke  of  the  pen  the  entire  Manchu- 
rian  coast  line  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Amur  River  to  the  frontier  of  Korea. 
In  1898  Russia,  by  the  Cassini  conven- 
tion, took  Port  Arthur  and  Talienwan  ; 
and  now,  in  April,  1901 ,  the  whole  world 
is  asking  the  significance  of  her  occupa- 
tion of  Manchuria  in  relation  to  the  in- 
tegrity of  China  and  the  maintenance  of 
the  open  door. 

The  French,  as  early  as  1^89,  when 
Philip  the  Fair  was  king,  received  dis- 
patches from  China,  suggesting  common 


CHINA:    HER    HISTORY   AND    DEVELOPMENT     269 


action  against  the  Saracens.  In  1688, 
four  centuries  later,  Louis  XIV  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  Emperor  Kanghi, 
whom  he  saluted  as  "  Most  High,  Most 
Excellent,  Most  Puissant,  and  Most 
Magnanimous,  Dearly  Beloved  Good 
Friend."  In  1844  the  first  treaty  was 
negotiated.  France  later  engaged  in 
war  with  China  over  the  acquisition  of 
Tonkin  and  Cochin-China,  and  a  treaty 
was  signed  in  1885  giving  France  juris- 
diction. 

Germany's  first  expedition  was  in 
1 86 1,  but  her  chief  connection  with 
China  was  the  occupation  of  Kiaochau 
in  1897,  which  practically  gave  her  con- 
trol of  the  rich  and  resourceful  province 
of  Shantung. 

English  intercourse  began  with  the 
East  India  Company  in  1615,  when  it 
opened  agencies  at  Amoy  and  in  For- 
mosa. For  the  next  two  centuries  this 
great  company's  interests  were  Eng- 
land's own  interests,  but  her  position 
was  that  of  a  suppliant  trader.  In  1 74 1 , 
and  again  in  1816,  British  gunboats  at 
Canton  reminded  the  Chinese  that  Brit- 
ish traders  had  certain  rights  that  the 
mother  country  would  protect.  The 
embassies  of  Lord  Macartney  in  1792 
and  of  Lord  Amherst  in  1815  accom- 
plished but  little. 

Relations  grew  more  and  more  strained 
after  Lord  Napier  and  Sir  J.  F.  Davis 
had  endeavored  by  authority  of  Parlia- 
ment to  establish  new  and  better  condi- 
tions. •  Open  hostilities  began  in  1839. 
In  1841  the  Island  of  Hongkong,  now 
the  most  important  port  on  the  eastern 
Asiatic  coast,  was  seized  by  Great  Brit- 
ain. This  struggle  was  the  celebrated 
"Opium  War,"  which  really  opened 
China  to  the  foreign  world,  and  for 
which  Britain  has  too  often  been  un- 
justly criticised.  Though  it  is  called  the 
Opium  War,  opium  trading  was  only  an 
incident  in  the  list  of  causes.  The  war 
was  waged,  in  fact,  to  stop  an  endless 
array  of  grievances  that  had  accumu- 
lated during  two  centuries.  The  best  re- 


sult was  the  opening  as  ' '  treaty  ports  ' ' 
to  the  commerce  of  foreign  nations 
Canton,  Amoy,  Fuchau,  Ningpo,  and 
Shanghai. 

In  1856  England  was  again  engaged 
in  a  brief  Chinese  war,  and  trouble  con- 
tinued until  the  Convention  of  Pekin 
was  signed,  in  1860.  Other  treaties,  the 
occupation  of  Wei-hai-wei,  Kowloon, 
and  kindred  negotiations  I  pass  over, 
though  important.  In  considering  Great 
Britain's  relations  to  China  in  the  past 
and  at  present,  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  no  other  country  had  or  has 
so  much  at  stake  in  commerce  and  poli- 
tics. For  that  reason  we  commend  her 
energy  in  the  former  days  and  wonder 
at  her  inactivity  in  the  last  years  and 
months. 

AMERICA  AND  CHINA 

America's  relations  with  China  have 
always  been  to  her  credit.  Whether  we 
consider  the  pioneer  methods  of  our 
merchants  and  missionaries  of  a  century 
ago  or  the  work  of  our  diplomatists  and 
generals  today,  our  Government  has 
little  or  nothing  of  which  to  be  ashamed 
and  much  of  which  to  be  justly  proud. 

The  records  of  relations  begin  with 
the  report  of  Major  Shaw,  the  clever 
supercargo  of  the  ship  Empress  of  China , 
which,  loaded  with  ginseng,  sailed  from 
New  York  Harbor  for  Canton  on  Wash- 
ington's birthday,  1784,  and  returned  on 
May  ii,  1 785,  with  a  cargo  of  tea.  The 
Secretary  of  State  was  then  John  Jay, 
who,  like  his  successor,  John  Hay,  was 
an  honored  advocate  of  the  legitimate 
development  of  American  interests. 
Major  Shaw  reported  to  him,  and  he 
submitted  the  report  to  Congress,  which 
immediately  resolved  ' '  That  Congress 
feels  a  peculiar  satisfaction  in  the  suc- 
cessful issue  of  this  first  effort  of  the 
citizens  of  America  to  establish  a  direct 
trade  with  China,  which  does  so  much 
honor  to  its  undertakers  and  con- 
ductors. ' ' 


2 jo         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGA/JNK 


In  the  year  1832-' 33  there  were  sixty 
American  ships  at  Canton,  and  our  trade 
ffM  even  then  valued  at  nearly  $17, 
000,000  per  annum.  The  first  American 
missionary  was  Robert  Morrison,  a  man 
of  great  learning  and  ability ,  who  arrived 
in  China  in  1807. 

America  commenced  direct  diplomatic 
negotiations  with  China  in  1844,  when 
Caleb  Gushing  signed  the  treaty  of 
Wanghia.  Since  then  there  have  been 
only  the  slightest  breaks  in  the  entente 
cordiale  between  China  and  the  United 
States.  New  treaties  have  been  drawn 
up  when  necessary,  and  American  trade 
has  grown  more  rapidly  than  that  of  any 
other  foreign  nation  engaged  in  the  com- 
petition for  the  control  and  profits  of 
Asiatic  markets. 

Our  commercial  opportunity  in  China, 
which  is  a  favorite  theme  of  mine  for 
discussion  prompted  by  many  years  of 
official  and  private  study  and  residence 
in  Asia,  is  the  greatest  in  potentialities 
of  any  beyond  our  shores.  Today  our 
trade  exchange  with  China,  including 
Hongkong,  is  valued  at  $4 5 ,000,000  per 
annum,  and  yet  it  is  in  the  infancy  of  its 
development.  Making  conservative  esti- 
mate on  the  basis  that  the  ' '  open  door  ' ' 
is  preserved  in  China,  that  the  interior 
of  the  Empire  is  made  accessible  by  rail- 
ways, and  that  the  government  becomes 
progressive,  there  is  no  valid  reason 
why  our  commerce  with  Cathay  in  1925 
should  not  have  grown  tenfold  and  be 
valued  at  $450,000,000. 

These  possibilities  remind  us  of  the 
supreme  necessity  of  the  protection  of 
our  treaty  rights  throughout  all  China, 
from  Manchuria  to  Kwangtung.  It  is 
gratifying  that  President  McKinley  and 
Secretary'  Hay  are  shaping  our  policy  at 
Pekin  with  reference  to  the  importance 
of  our  interests,  present  and  future.  We 
want  and  will  take  no  territory,  no  ports, 
but  we  contend  for  the  unhampered 
privilege  of  trading  everywhere  in  China 
on  the  same  basis  and  with  the  same 
privileges,  without  discrimination,  as 
any  and  all  foreign  nations. 


After  the  maintenance  of  the  ' '  open 
door,"  the  chief  object  of  American 
effort  in  the  matter  of  commerce  would 
seem  to  be  the  abolition  of  the  so-called 
Lekin  or  interior  taxes  on  foreign  <^<>ods 
when  they  have  left  the  treaty  ports  for 
their  destination. ,  It  is  no  exaggeration 
to  predict  that  the  foreign  trade  with 
China  would  double  in  five  years  if  the 
duty  paid  at  the  custom-house  was  the 
only  burden  on  foreign  imports.  The 
chief  object  in  the  new  commercial 
treaties  which  will  be  negotiated  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  present  difficulties 
will  be  the  protection  of  foreign  imports 
from  Lekin,  barrier,  and  destination 
taxes,  or  ' '  squeezes. ' ' 

AMERICAN  INTERESTS  IN  MAXCHl  RIA 


wa 


The  future  of  Manchuria  directly 
cerns  the  United  States.  In  one 
we  have  more  at  stake  than  any  other 
nation.  More  American  products  are 
sold  there  than  in  any  other  portion  of 
China.  American  imports  to  Manchuria 
exceed  those  of  any  other  nation.  The 
outlook  in  ordinary  conditions  for  the 
increase  of  American  trade  in  Manchuria 
is  better  than  elsewhere  in  Asia,  and 
hence  the  situation  appeals  to  American 
export  interests,  especially  to  the  cotton 
industries  of  the  Southern  States. 

I  am  making  no  comment  on  the  dip- 
lomatic issue  at  stake,  nor  on  the  policy 
of  Russia,  but  I  am  telling  the  simple 
truth  about  Manchuria's  importance. 
Having  crossed  it  from  Niuchwang  to 
Vladivostok  by  way  of  Kirin  and  Muk- 
den, I  can  say  that  it  is  prospectively 
one  of  the  best  sections  of  China,  capa- 
ble of  supporting  a  large  population  and 
providing  an  extended  market.  When 
I  first  visited  Niuchwang,  some  ei<jht 
years  ago,  American  imports  were  barely 
worth  1 5  per  cent  of  the  total  ;  when  I 
went  there  last,  in  1898,  they  were  50 
per  cent  of  the  total  and  were  still  grow- 
ing. It  is  the  Manchurian  demand,  for 
instance,  that  has  caused  the  wonderful 
increase  to  $10,000,000  in  the  value  of 


CHINA:    HER    HISTORY   AND    DEVELOPMENT     271 


our  manufactured  cotton  goods  sold  in 
China.  The  demand  for  flour,  oil,  man- 
ufactured iron  and  steel  bids  fair  to  in- 
crease in  like  proportion  if  the  door  of 
trade  is  not  closed  against  us. 

If,  now,  I  should  summarize  public 
opinion  in  regard  to  China  and  our 
policy,  as  it  has  been  my  privilege  to 
test  it  in  addressing  commercial  and 
missionary  organizations  in  all  parts  of 
the  United  States  from  San  Francisco  to 
New  York  and  Chicago  to  New  Orleans, 
I  should  state,  first,  that  public  senti- 
ment, regardless  of  party,  is  undoubtedly 
heartily  in  sympathy  with  our  Govern- 
ment's policy,  and,  second,  that  if  this 
opinion  were  crystallized  into  specific 
expectations  it  would  name  the  follow- 
ing provisions  : 

1.  Every  legitimate  effort  should  be 
made  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the 
Chinese  Empire  and  the  freedom  of  trade 
throughout  its  extent  as  originally  out- 
lined in  the  old  treaties,  while  needed 
reforms  in  administration  of  government 
and  foreign  intercourse  are  duly  advo- 
cated and  pressed. 

2.  Indemnities    should    not    be    de- 
manded by  government,  missionaries,  or 
merchants  except  within  the  lowest  rea- 
sonable limits,  and  the  entire  question  of 
indemnities  and  kindred  issues  should 
be  referred  to  an  International  Tribunal 
of  Arbitration  as  provided  by  the  Hague 
Peace  Treaty. 

3.  New   treaties  of    commerce    and 
amity  should  be  negotiated  as  soon  as 
is  practicable  by  the  ministers  at  Pekin 
which  will  give  every  nation  equal  rights 
of  trade  throughout  all  China,  provide 
for  the  abolition  of  the  L/ekin  and  other 
offensive  taxes,  and  insure  the  ' '  open 
door ' '   for  commerce  and  Christianity 
alike. 

4.  Charity  and  not  revenge,  with  pun- 
ishment only  for  those  responsibly  guilty 
and  within  the  Chinese  Government's 
power  to  punish,  should  characterize  the 
demands  of  merchants  and  missionaries, 
as  well  as  of  our  Government,  for  in 


that  way  we  will  eventually  win  the 
lasting  gratitude  and  favor  of  China's 
government  and  people,  strengthen  our 
own  position,  and  develop  the  best 
guarantees  within  and  without  China 
for  an  ' '  open  door  ' '  for  both  God  and 
Mammon.  . 

Finally,  we  note  that  a  study  of  Chi- 
nese history  and  character  enables  us  to 
understand  better  the  mighty  influences 
now  at  work  in  China.  It  forces  us  to 
draw  certain  remarkable  conclusions 
that  throw  light  upon  the  present  crisis 
at  Pekin,  but  which  are  not  generally 
remembered  in  popular  discussion  of  the 
problem  before  us. 

CONCLUSION 

There  is  danger  of  misunderstanding 
and  underrating  the  people  and  the  pos- 
sibilities of  China  in  war  and  in  peace, 
because  the  wonderful  past  of  the  em- 
pire is  not  commonly  known. 

First.  It  may  seem  surprising,  but  it 
is  a  truthful  statement  in  the  light  of 
history,  that  the  Chinese,  if  necessary, 
are  a  warlike  people.  They  are  born 
warriors.  They  inherit  a  capacity  and 
tendency  to  fight  from  a  longer  line  of 
fighting  ancestors  than  is  the  heritage 
of  any  or  all  of  the  Powers  now  arrayed 
against  them  at  Pekin.  The  soldier  may 
be  unpopular  in  the  social  and  political 
life  of  the  empire  from  the  teachings  of 
the  classics,  but  the  salient  fact  remains 
that  wars  and  soldiers  have  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  empire  and  people  more 
than  peace  and  scholars  during  her  fifty 
centuries  of  sway.  The  lack  of  an  or- 
ganized army  is  a  mere  passing  incident 
of  the  times. 

Second.  The  recent  Boxer  uprising 
and  seizure  of  the  legations,  while  they 
rightly  appear  in  the  judgment  of  the 
hour  to  be  fraught  with  great  possible 
results  both  to  China  and  the  foreign 
world,  are  secondary  events  when  com- 
pared to  scores  of  uprisings  and  diffi- 
culties in  China's  seventy  cycles  and 


27 2         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


twenty-five  dynasties.  The  massacres, 
men  engaged  and  killed,  area  of  disturb- 
ance, and  vexations  of  settlement  and 
indemnity  are,  after  all,  limited  when 
we  balance  against  them  the  events  of 
centuries  that  are  gone. 

Third.  The  end  of  C.hina  is  not  yet. 
If  she  is  divided,  it  will  in  history  be 
only  a  temporary  division,  but  one  sug- 
gestive of  revenge  and  consequent  dan- 
ger to  the  white  and  Christian  races. 

If  she  is  not  divided,  a  new  and 
grander  period  of  progress  and  civiliza- 
tion will  surely  follow  the  troubles  and 
haze  of  the  past  sixty  years,  just  as  has 
been  the  almost  invariable  experience  of 
the  great  past.  Men  and  means  will 
be  forthcoming  to  build  up  this  newer 
China.  Whether  this  era  is  inspired 
from  within  or  without,  whether  it  comes 
with  a  new  dynasty,  a  new  emperor,  or 
with  the  present  emperor  supported  by 
foreign  hands,  the  world  will  yet  see 
greater  things  in  China  than  it  has  ever 


viewed  in  America  or  Europe.  As 
China's  400,000,000  people  must  by  law 
of  nature  increase  to  countless  more 
millions,  and  as  her  4;ooo,ooo  square 
miles,  with  their  vast  unsurpassed  re- 
sources, must  inevitably  respond  to  ma- 
terial development,  so  her  4,000  year* 
of  history  as  a  nation  and  people,  with 
their  rich  experience,  their  reserve  en- 
ergy, their  conservatism,  their  recupera- 
tive capacity,  their  homogeneity,  teach 
us  to  believe  that  China  will  survive  suc- 
cessfully the  present  crisis. 

Is  not,  therefore,  the  policy  of  01 
Government — that  of  mingled  firmm 
and  charity — a  wise  one  ? 

If  we  protect  our  treaty  rights,  dt 
mand  just  punishment  without  revenj 
respect  China's  inalienable  prerogative.-, 
and  show  dignified  generosity  in  the 
evolution  of  the  new  status,  we  shall 
have  China's  400,000,000  people  as  our 
lasting  friends  rather  than  our  everlast- 
ing enemies. 


THERE  is  an  exhibit  in  the  Eth- 
nology  Building    at   the   Pan- 
American  Exposition  in  Buffalo 
that  will  be  of  special  interest  to  archae- 
ologists, as  it  represents  a  discovery  so 
recent  that  no  previous  exposition  has 
had  the  opportunity  of  exhibiting  it  to 
the  world.     It  is  the  remains  of  the  In- 
dian village  of  Baum. 

Prof.  William  C.  Mills,  of  Columbus, 
Ohio,  curator  of  the  Ohio  Archaeolog- 
ical and  Historical  Society,  who  was  in- 
strumental in  the  finding  of  Baum,  came 
to  Buffalo  to  install  this  exhibit.  Most 
of  it  is  placed  in  glass  cases,  but  the 
central  feature  is  a  little  graveyard  on 
the  floor-space  directly  under  the  great 
dome.  It  is  bounded  by  an  iron  railing, 
within  which  black  loamy  soil  has  been 
neatly  packed  as  a  bed  for  the  prehis- 


toric skeletons  it  has  been  Prof 
Mills'  ghoulish  task  to  arrange.  Bone 
by  bone  he  unpacked  them  and  fitted 
them  together  into  the  ghastly  sem- 
blance of  men,  women,  and  little  chil- 
dren. There  they  lie  in  the  same  rela- 
tive positions  in  which  they  were  found 
in  buried  Baum. 

So  new  and  yet  so  old  is  Baum  that 
only  a  few  of  the  best  informed  even 
knowr  its  name.  It  was  discovered  last 
year,  in  Ross  County,  Ohio,  and  was 
named  for  the  man  who  owned  the  prop- 
erty. Archaeologists  in  the  Indian  field 
consider  it  one  of  the  greatest  finds  of 
the  century.  The  village  encircled  one 
of  those  great  mounds  that  have  so  long 
been  the  wonder  and  curiosity  of  latter- 
day  races.  Mound  and  village  have  thus 
helped  to  interpret  each  other.  Wise 


THE   INDIAN   VILLAGE   OF   BAUM 


273 


men  have  read  strange  stories  in  the 
bones  and  stones  they  found  there,  and 
both  are  laid  out  now,  like  an  open  book, 
in  the  Ethnology  Building  for  the  public 
to  peruse. 

On  the  ground  above  the  village  trees 
were  growing  that  had  sprouted  not  less 
than  eight  hundred  years  ago.  The 
people  whose  tools  and  toys  we  contem- 
plate today  had  rotted  in  their  graves 
four  hundred  years  before  Columbus 
saw  America.  If  they  were  there  when 
the  Norsemen  visited  Vineland  the  Good, 
neither  people  learned  of  the  other. 
There  is  absolutely  no  suggestion  in  any 
of  their  relics  that  they  had  ever  had  the 
remotest  contact  with  a  European  race. 
They  were  a  primitive,  aboriginal  people, 
that  returned  to  the  soil  as  mysteriously 
as  they  sprang  from  it. 

The  implements  they  fashioned  out  of 
the  rude  materials  about  them  show  that 
they  had  reached  a  high  degree  of  civil- 
ization for  a  prehistoric  people.  It  is 
marvelous  to  see  to  what  uses  they  put 
the  bones  of  animals.  From  the  bones 
of  deer,  bear,  coon,  and  wild  turkey  they 
fashioned  needles,  awls,  fish-hooks,  and 
arrow-points.  Not  only  are  there  plenty 
of  fish-hooks  made  from  bone,  but  there 
are  pieces  of  bone  to  show  the  various 
stages  of  manufacture. 

What  a  patient  creature  was  the  prim- 
itive man  !  How  pathetic  are  the  traces 
of  his  first  early  struggles  to  create  ! 
There  are  the  pieces  of  bone  which  he 
had  slowly  hollowed  and  polished  and 
cut  to  make  a  hook.  There,  too,  are 
his  failures,  the  hooks  -that  he  broke 
before  he  had  done,  the  eloquent  tokens 
of  bootless  pains. 

Side  by  side  with  bone  arrow-points  are 
those  of  flint.  Probably  each  weapon 
had  its  advocates.  Flint  knives,  flint 
drills,  tell  of  rude  skill  definitely  di- 
rected. A  stone  awl-sharpener  be- 
speaks the  careful  workman. 

In  the  collection  is  a  small  carved 
stone.  The  characters  on  it  are  quite 
plain  to  all,  rude  as  they  are,  but  the 


interpretation  is  not  clear.  Wigwams 
are  indicated  by  a  few  artistic  strokes 
of  the  knife.  Nearby  are  a  turtle  and 
a  fox,  and  above  is  a  watchful  eye  look- 
ing down  on  all.  What  is  the  story 
the  Indian  artist  tried  to  tell  ? 

Some  pieces  of  pottery  were  -found 
that  make  one  think  of  the  modern 
Mexican's  handiwork.  The  bowls  are 
rudely  wrought,  but  a  stone  slab,  with 
a  stone  roller,  is  almost  the  exact  coun- 
terpart of  the  Mexican  metate.  Like 
the  Mexican  woman  of  today,  the 
squaw  of  old  knelt  patiently,  hour  after 
hour,  grinding  corn  on  the  metate  for 
the  simple  maize  cakes  that  were  the 
staff  of  life.  Corn  of  the  eight-rowed 
and  ten-rowed  variety  was  found  in  the 
buried  village;  also  beans,  wild  grapes, 
papaw  seed ,  walnuts ,  hickory ,  wild  plum , 
chestnuts,  and  hazel  nuts. 

Turtle  shells,  used  for  drinking  cups, 
and  stone  pipes  of  really  dainty  cut  are 
among  the  recovered  treasures.  Dis- 
coidal  stones  with  holes  in  them  sug- 
gest games  of  chance,  such  as  all  early 
people  delighted  in. 

Many  of  these  articles  are  found  in 
ash-pits  or  refuse  heaps  that  had  been 
sunk  about  the  village  to  keep  it  in  tidy 
condition.  Others  were  found  in  the 
graves.  Ornaments,  in  the  shape  of 
bone  or  bead  necklaces,  were  discovered 
with  the  skeletons  of  children  in  par- 
ticular. The  teeth  of  the  elk,  cut  and 
perforated,  are  plentiful  in  some  graves. 

It  is  strange  that  nowhere  does  one 
find  human  bones  used  for  utilitarian 
purposes.  There  are  awls  made  from 
the  tibia-tarsus  of  the  wild  turkey,  from 
the  shoulder  blades  and  from  the  ulna 
of  deer  and  elk,  but  nothing  from  the 
human  scapula  or  femur.  One  of  the 
most  interesting  collections  is  that  of 
scrapers,  used  to  remove  the  hair  from 
the  hides  of  animals,  to  dress  them  for 
raiment.  They  are  made  from  the 
metacarpal  bones  of  the  deer  and  elk, 
and  great  quantities  of  them  were  found. 

Among  the  heaps  of  bones  were  many 


274        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


that  had  a  strangely  familiar  look  to 
Professor  Mills.  They  carried  him  back 
to  his  boyhood  days  and  reminded  him 
of  the  bones  his  pet  dog  used  to  gnaw. 
So  he  began  to  look  for  the  dog,  and 
he  found  him,  the  early  Indian  canine, 
with  a  skull  like  a  modern  bull  terrier's. 
He,  too,  has  gone  to  the  happy  hunting 
grounds  of  his  father. 

The  Historical  Society,  of  which  Pro- 
fessor Mills  is  curator,  is  interested  in 
preserving  archaeological  and  historical 


relics  to  posterity.  The  famous  For 
Ancient,  in  Warren  County,  has  been 
set  aside  by  the  society's  endeavors  in 
a  park  of  300  acres  for  public  edifica- 
tion. The  great  Serpent  Mound,  it 
Adams  County,  has  been  similarly  em- 
parked.  It  is  an  embankment  i 
feet  long  and  three  feet  hij^h,  which  is 
an  eloquent  monument  to  human  en- 
deavor, and  as  such  should  be  preserved. 

H.  C.  BROWN. 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF   ABYSSINIA* 


THE  geography  of  Abyssinia  is 
now  fairly  well  known  as  far  as 
the  rivers  and  boundaries  are 
concerned,  but  there  is  a  great  deal  to 
be  learned  regarding  the  Danakil  coun- 
try on  the  east  and  the  country  to  the 
south  and  southwest.  The  best  maps 
of  the  country  are  those  made  by  the 
Italians,  but  they  are  rather  bewilder- 
ing by  the  number  of  names  they  con- 
tain of  unimportant  little  places  consist- 
ing, perhaps,  of  three  or  four  houses. 
Unless  a  map  is  made  on  a  very  large 
scale,  say  two  inches  to  a  mile,  it  is  im- 
possible to  put  in  all  the  villages  and 
local  names  for  the  small  streams,  etc. 
Many  of  the  mountains  are  differently 
called  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  various 
slopes,  and  therefore  names  are  not 
always  to  be  relied  on.  If  the  local 
market  towns  are  marked  and  those  vil- 
lages that  possess  a  church,  travelers 
will  have  no  difficulty  in  finding  their 
way  about  the  country,  and  supplies  can 
generally  be  purchased  on  market  days 
to  enable  them  to  proceed  from  one  mar- 
ket town  to  another. 

The  Italian  colony  of  Erithrea,  which 
bounds  Abyssinia  on  the  north,  is  well 
surveyed,  the  heights  of  mountains, 


government  stations,  and  plateaus  have 
all  been  determined,  and  statistics  of 
rainfall  and  temperature  are  kept  and 
published.  Abyssinia  is  not  at  all  a 
difficult  country  to  travel  in  on  account 
of  the  very  conspicuous  landmarks  and 
the  enormous  extent  of  the  landscape 
that  is  visible  from  the  various  high 
mountains.  The  atmosphere  in  the 
highlands  is  wonderfully  clear,  and 
enormous  distances  can  be  seen.  From 
Halai,  in  the  north,  the  Semien  Moun- 
tains are  visible  on  a  clear  day.  Above 
Wandach  the  Semien  can  also  be  seen, 
and  from  Wandach  the  mountains  to  the 
north  of  Ifat,  and  from  there  the  moun- 
tains round  Cunni,  in  the  Harar  prov- 
ince, are  visible,  and  it  might  be  possi- 
ble, perhaps,  to  heliograph  from  one 
point  to  the  other.  Part  of  Halai  range 
is  also  visible  from  Massowah  on  a  clear 
day. 

The  climate  in  the  highlands  of  Abys- 
sinia is  superb,  and  it  is  only  in  the  val- 
leys that  it  is  unhealthy  and  that  mala- 
rial fever  is  to  be  caught.  There  is  a 
great  discussion  going  on  at  present 
about  the  mosquito,  and  it  seems  curious 
to  me,  who  have  lived  in  so  many  un- 
healthy parts  of  the  East,  that  the  at- 


*  From  Modem  Abyssinia,  by  Augustus  B.  Wilde.     Pp.  506,  with  map  and  index.      London  : 

Methuen  &  Co.,  1901. 


THE    GEOGRAPHY    OF   ABYSSINIA 


275 


tention  of  doctors  has  not  been  drawn 
to  this  insect  before.  I  have  invariably 
found  that  where  there  is  stagnant  water 
contaminated  by  drainage  and  decompos- 
ing vegetable  or  animal  matter  the  sting 
of  the  mosquito  that  breeds  in  this  water 
is  very  venomous  and  causes  feverish 
symptoms.  This  fact  is  so  well  known 
to  the  Abyssinians  that  they  never  build 
their  houses  in  the  valleys  where  mos- 
quitoes abound,  but  always  place  their 
dwellings  on  the  summits  of  the  nearest 
hills.  When  they  work  in  the  culti- 
vated parts  of  these  valleys  they  always 
surround  their  fields  with  very  strong 
hedges,  so  that  they  need  not  remain  at 
night  to  watch  their  crops,  and  even  in 
the  harvest  time,  at  the  dryest  season  of 
the  year,  they  do  not  leave  their  houses 
in  the  morning  until  the  mists  in  the 
valley  clear  away,  and  they  always  re- 
turn to  them  before  sunset,  when  the 
mosquito  commences  to  come  out. 

Very  little  fever  was  known  at  Suakin 
before  the  Egyptian  steamers  com- 
menced running  there  frequently  ;  there 
were  no  mosquitoes  in  the  place,  and 
curtains  to  the  beds  were  never  used, 
although  on  the  other  side  of  the  Red 
Sea,  at  Jeddah,  sleep  was  impossible 
without  them,  and  Jeddah  is  known 
also  as  a  very  feverish  place.  The  mos- 
quito was,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  im- 
ported from  Suez  in  the  fresh  water 
brought  thence  in  the  water  tanks  of 
the  Egyptian  steamers  for  the  use  of  the 
Egyptian  officials.  Now  at  Suakin  the 
mosquito  is  quite  common  in  the  town, 
and  .so  is  fever,  while  outside  the  town 
fever  and  the  insect  are  unknown. 

By  looking  at  the  map  of  Abyssinia 
one  will  find  the  belts  of  tropical  valley 
to  be  very  few,  and  greater  altitude  in 
the  center,  along  part  of  the  Tacazze 
and  Blue  Nile  Rivers,  with  a  few  of 
their  tributaries.  Sheltered  and  con- 
fined valleys  in  all  parts  of  Abyssinia 
are,  however,  not  nearly  so  healthy  as 
the  opener  ones  of  greater  altitude.  A 
traveler  need  never  spend  more  than  a 


night  or  two  in  unhealthy  parts.  It  is, 
however,  different  with  the  sportsman  ; 
to  enjoy  the  best  of  sport  he  must  fol- 
low the  game  that  inhabits  the  damp 
jungle,  and  during  the  rainy  season  he 
is  lucky  to  escape  a  bout  of  fever. 

With  regard  to  the  botany  of  Abys- 
sinia, the  greater  part  of  the  country  has 
been  thoroughly  worked  out,  especially 
by  the  late  Professor  Schimper  ;  his  son, 
who  traveled  with  me  a  good  deal  in  the 
country,  informs  me,  however,  that  his 
father  did  hardly  any  work  in  the  east- 
ern half  of  the  country,  and  then  only 
in  the  dry  season  ;  so  there  is  still  a  great 
deal  to  be  learned  about  the  plants  that 
are  to  be  found  in  this  part  during  the 
wet  season  and  immediately  after  it. 
Geographical  details  of  Abyssinia,  such 
as  the  amount  of  rainfall  over  a  series 
of  years  at  different  stations,  are  sadly 
wanted.  The  Italians  can  supply  de- 
tails of  the  north  in  the  Hamasen,  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  central  and 
southwestern  Abyssinia  have  a  much 
greater  rainfall  than  the  northern  part 
of  the  country,  and  the  extremes  of 
temperature  are  also  greater  in  these 
parts. 

There  is  very  little  known  about  the 
geology  of  the  country,  and  as  it  has 
been  so  broken  up  and  shows  such  grand 
disturbances,  its  formation  should  be 
very  varied  and  should  contain  many 
surprises,  and  minerals  should  no  doubt 
be  plentiful  in  some  parts.  Gold  has 
been  found  in  many  places  since  the 
earliest  times,  but  the  centuries  of  an- 
archy and  confusion  which  the  country 
has  undergone  has  prevented  any  thor- 
ough examination  of  the  different  dis- 
tricts in  modern  times,  and  from  the 
time  of  the  Axumite  dynasty  till  1895 
Abyssinia  never  had  a  coinage  of  her 
own,  so  that  there  was  no  necessity  to 
seek  for  the  more  precious  metals. 

Coal  has  been  reported  in  several 
places,  but  I  have  seen  nothing  but 
black  shale.  I  cannot  say  whether  it 
exists  in  the  west  of  the  country  round 


276         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


Lake  Tsana,  as  reported,  as  my  jour- 
neys have  always  been  in  the  eastern 
half  of  Abyssinia,  and  I  am  certain  that 
no  outcrop  exists  in  this  part,  unless  on 
the  slopes  toward  the  Danakil  country, 
which  I  think  highly  improbable,  owing 
to  the  volcanic  formation. 

There  is  here  a  large  and  very  inter- 
esting field  for  scientific  research,  and 
many  years  must  lapse  before  Abyssinia 
is  thoroughly  known;  it  is  not  likely, 
however,  that  it  will  be  opened  up  while 
the  power  is  all  in  the  hands  of  one  per- 
son. Italy  will  no  doubt  take  her  share 
in  the  development  that  is  bound  to  come 
sooner  or  later,  and  her  territories  will  be 
explored  long  before  the  rest  of  the  coun- 


try. Unforeseen  circumstances  may 
arise  which  will  allow  an  opening  uj> 
of  Abyssinia  more  speedily  than  the 
present  prognosticates,  but  I  hardly 
think  that  they  are  likely  unless  s<  MIR- 
radical  change  takes  place  within  the 
next  few  years  ;  in  the  meantime,  how- 
ever, the  artist,  archaeologist,  botanist, 
and  others  can  do  good  work  in  learn- 
ing more  about  the  country  and  bring- 
ing its  details  before  the  public.  From 
the  lower  classes  they  will  receive  a 
hearty  welcome,  as  from  a  great  many 
of  the  well-to-do  people  who  wish  to  see 
their  country  opened  up  and  an  end  put 
to  the  constant  disputes  that  arise  among 
the  upper  classes. 


OIL    FIELDS    OF   TEXAS  AND   CALIFORNIA 


DR.  DAVID  T.    DAY,  chief  of 
the  Division   of   Mineral  Re- 
sources of   the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  contributes  to  the 
Review  of  Reviews  for  June  an  authori- 
tative and  interesting  statement  regard- 
ing the  recent  discovery  of  oil  in  the 
great  States  of  Texas  and  California. 
The   following  paragraphs  are   taken 
from  his  article: 

For  some  reason  (for  which  a  com- 
mon cause  would  be  difficult  to  find), 
the  last  year  has  been  marked  by  petro- 
leum crazes,  unusually  serious  and  in 
widely  separated  areas.  Only  a  year  ago 
the  attention  of  those  interested  in  ex- 
tending our  crude-petroleum  resources 
was  centered  on  the  new  fields  in  Rou- 
mania,  which  are  destined  to  yield  large 
supplies  of  oil.  But  even  before  this 
the  development  of  West  Virginia  had 
been  actually  adding  to  our  supplies  far 
more  oil  and  promises  of  more  than 
Roumania  or  the  more  sensational  de- 
velopments abroad  or  at  home.  Then 
came  the  excitements  of  the  Indian 
Territory.  The  importance  of  Califor- 


nia's oil  fields  in  Ventura  County,  in 
Los  Angeles,  and  in  Santa  Barbara,  was 
increased  tenfold  by  the  discoveries  in 
Kern  County.  Then  all  oildom  went 
crazed  again  by  the  discovery  of  a  great 
field  in  the  region  of  Beaumont,  Texas. 
One  might  condense  the  sensational  re- 
ports of  all  these  new  oil  fields  by  imag- 
ining that  a  tidal  subterranean  wave  of 
oil  had  moved  up  toward  the  surface  of 
the  earth  and  found  vent,  first  in  Cali- 
fornia, then  in  Wyoming,  and  finally  in 
Texas  ! 

The  California  discovery  is  likely,  of 
all  those  which  have  been  mentioned, 
to  be  of  greatest  value;  not  for  quantity 
of  oil,  but  for  the  development  of  the 
country.  California  has  been  poorly 
supplied  with  fuel  in  comparison  with 
Pennsylvania  or  Ohio  or  any  of  the 
States  where  cheap  coal  has  developed 
enormous  industrial  enterprises.  Cali- 
fornia cannot  continue  as  a  great  com- 
monwealth, past  the  agricultural  or  even 
more  temporary  treasure-mining  stage, 
without  a  great  supply  of  fuel.  It  is  at 
least  partially  afforded  by  the  Bakers- 


277 


field  oil,  and  it  will  be  the  work  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey  this 
year  to  so  correlate  the  various  oil-bear- 
ing strata  on  the  Pacific  Slope  as  to 
make  further  discoveries  probable. 

Traces  of  oil  have  been  found  in  Cali- 
fornia from  Mendocino  County  on  the 
coast  (and  extending  inland  a  few  miles) 
southward  nearly  to  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  the  State.  Usually  the  finds 
have  been  merely  of  traces,  not  even 
sufficient  to  cause  an  excitement ;  but  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  State  the  de- 
posits of  thick  oils  in  Ventura  County 
prove  sufficient  to  furnish  valuable 
amounts  of  fuel.  In  the  city  of  Los 
Angeles  and  at  Anaheim  the  discover- 
ies were  sufficient  to  arouse  the  usual 
wild  excitement.  The  feature  of  this 
I^os  Angeles  excitement  was  the  find- 
ing of  many  wells,  most  of  them  pro- 
ductive only  to  a  moderate  extent,  the 
aggregate  unimportant  for  the  general 
supply. 

A  remarkable  feature  of  the  oil  indus- 
try in  California  has  been  the  discov- 
ery that  off  the  coast  of  Santa  Barbara 
oil  could  be  obtained  by  drilling  under 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  near  the  beach,  and 
this  added  considerably  to  the  supply 
of  oil,  all  of  it  peculiar  in  being  thick, 
containing  as  a  characteristic  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  asphaltum  and 
not  yielding  paraffine  wax  by  the  ordi- 
nary processes  of  refining.  It  has  been 
possible  by  refining  to  obtain  kerosene 
from  this  ordinary  California  oil,  but 
not  economically. 

Within  the  last  two  years  a  marked 
change  has  taken  place  in  the  economic 
phase  by  the  discovery,  first  at  Coalinga, 
in  Fresno  County,  of  lighter  oil,  much 
more  promising  to  the  refiner,  and  this 
was  followed  by  similar  discoveries,  but 
on  a  larger  scale,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Bakersfield,  in  Kern  County.  The 
result  of  these  discoveries  is  well  indi- 
cated by  the  fact  that  there  are  now 
over  1,100  oil  locations  in  the  State 
of  California,  of  which  600  are  near 


Bakersfield.  The  excitement  has  been 
sufficient  to  make  oil  prospecting  more 
popular  than  gold  prospecting,  which 
has  continued  in  California  without  ces- 
sation since  1849.  The  oil  from  these 
newly  discovered  fields  in  Fresno  and 
Kern  counties  will  undoubtedly  admit 
of  refining  for  the  production  of  illu- 
minants,  but  the  great  value  such  finds 
in  California  will  be  in  providing  a  large 
supply  of  power-producing  fuel.  Fur- 
ther, it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
great  progress  in  hydraulic  engineering 
in  California  will  not  only  supplement 
this  oil  fuel  by  extremely  progressive 
use  of  water-power,  but  the  same  means 
by  which  water-power  has  been  carried 
long  distances  at  phenomenally  low  cost 
will  be  applied  to  developing  our  pipe- 
line systems  beyond  their  present  effi- 
ciency in  the  East. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  unfavorable 
experience  in  refining  the  California 
oils,  with  their  great  percentage  of  as- 
phaltum, the  discovery  of  oils  somewhat 
similar  in  Texas  would  have  been  more 
auspicious.  Nevertheless,  this  Texas 
discovery,  with  which  every  one  is  more 
or  less  familiar,  is  certain  to  exert  as 
powerful  an  influence  on  the  petroleum 
industry  in  general  as  the  California 
oils  will  have  upon  the  local  industrial 
conditions  of  a  State.  The  accidental 
discovery  of  moderate  supplies  of  petro- 
leum at  Corsicana,  Texas,  a  few  years 
ago  was  sufficient  to  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  oil  men  to  that  State  and  to 
have  near  at  hand  experienced  men  and 
apparatus  for  well  drilling  when  the 
final  discovery  of  Captain  Lucas,  near 
Beaumont,  announced  a  really  great  oil 
field.  The  details  of  this  discovery  are  in- 
teresting. To  Capt.  Anthony  F.  Lucas 
is  due  the  fact  that  this  discovery  was 
made  last  year,  and  not  many  years 
later,  as  would  have  been  consistent  with 
normal  development.  Captain  Lucas 
visited  the  writer  in  Washington,  and 
asked  his  aid  in  interesting  the  oil  fra- 
ternity to  help  him  in  drilling  a  well  at 


278         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


Beaumont,  Texas,  where  he  felt  sure 
that  a  profitable  field  would  be  devel- 
oped. The  reports  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey  indicated  at  that  time 
the  probability  of  finding  oil  in  this  vi- 
cinity, because  of  the  external  oil  indi- 
cations which  had  long  been  observed 
there  ;  but  it  was  not  the  province  of  the 
Survey  to  promote  any  individual  lo- 
cality; therefore  Captain  Lucas  sought 
further,  and  without  much  success. 

While  the  Texas  oil-fever  is  still  at  its 
speculative  height,  the  same  excitement 
has  broken  out  in  a  new  spot — west- 
ern Wyoming — on  the  Oregon  Short 
Line  Railroad.  The  construction  work 
of  the  railroad  company  developed  a 
flowing  well  which,  when  allowance  is 
made  for  the  enormous  exaggeration 
which  inevitably  follows  in  this  indus- 
try, yields  perhaps  five  barrels  per  day. 
The  result  has  been  the  incorporation 


of  many  companies  to  take  up  tracts  of 
heretofore  very  low-priced  land.  The 
lack  of  confidence  of  the  present  specu- 
lators is  well  shown  by  their  inactivity 
as  to  actual  drilling.  Nevertheless  \\v 
can  recognize  that  geological  conditions 
are  favorable  for  a  considerable  supply 
of  petroleum  in  this  neighborhood  of 
the  ordinary  easily  refined  quality — a 
fact  which  is  only  of  considerable  inter- 
est to  the  public  it  the  developments 
cause  the  typical  sensation-producing 
"gushers,"  in  which  case  the  excite- 
ment will  be  of  value  by  peopling  a  re- 
gion which  would  otherwise  remain  un- 
developed for  many  years.  We  already 
know  of  good  oil  fields  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Casper,  Wyoming,  and  in  many 
other  portions  of  the  State,  but  they 
have  lacked  sensationalism  and  have 
been  subject  to  conservative  develop- 
ment by  careful  men. 


THE    SERI    INDIANS 


SEVERAL  years  since  Prof.  W  J 
McGee  and  Mr.  Willard  D.  John- 
son passed  several  months  in  the 
land  of  the  Seri,  studying  the  country 
and  the  customs  of  these  little-known 
people. 

A  brief  summary  by  Mr.  McGee  of 
the  work  then  done  appeared  later  in 
this  Magazine  (volume  vii,  No.  4).  The 
Bureau  of  American  Ethnology  has  re- 
cently published  in  a  handsome  volume 
the  official  report  of  Professor  McGee, 
from  which  the  following  extracts  are 
made: 

The  most  noticeable  social  fact  re- 
vealed about  the  Seri  rancherias  is  the 
prominence  of  the  females,  especially 
the  elder  women,  in  the  management  of 
everyday  affairs.  The  matrons  erect 
the  jacales  without  help  from  men  or 
boys;  they  carry  the  meager  belongings 
of  the  family  and  dispose  them  about 


the  habitation  in  conformity  with  gen- 
eral custom  and  immediate  convenience, 
and  after  the  household  is  prepared  the 
men  approach  and  range  themsehx-s 
about,  apparently  in  a  definite  order, 
the  matron's  eldest  brother  coming  first, 
the  younger  brothers  next,  and  finally 
the  husband,  who  squats  in  or  outside 
of  the  open  end  of  the  bower.  Accord- 
ing to  Mashem's  iterated  explanations, 
which  were  corroborated  by  several 
eldervvomen  (notably  the  clan-mother 
known  to  the  Mexicans  as  Juana  Maria ) 
and  verified  by  observation  of  the  fam- 
ily movements,  the  house  and  its  con- 
tents belong  exclusively  to  the  matron, 
though  her  brothers  are  entitled  to 
places  within  it  whenever  they  wish: 
while  the  husband  has  neither  title  nor 
fixed  place,  "  because  he  belongs  to  an- 
other house" — though,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  he 'is  frequently  at  or  in  the  hut 


THE   SERI    INDIANS 


279 


of  his  spouse,  where  he  normally  occu- 
pies the  outermost  place  in  the  group 
and  acts  as  a  sort  of  outer  guard  or 
sentinel.  Conformably  to  their  pro- 
prietary position,  the  matrons  have 
chief,  if  not  sole,  voice  in  extending  and 
removing  the  rancheria;  and  such  ques- 
tions as  that  of  the  placement  of  a  new 
jacal  are  discussed  animatedly  among 
them  and  are  finally  decided  by  the  dic- 
tum of  the  eldest  in  the  group.  The  im- 
portance of  the  function  thus  exercised 
by  the  women  has  long  been  noted  at 
Costa  Rica  and  other  points  on  the  Seri 
frontier,  for  the  rancherias  are  located 
and  the  initial  jacal  is  erected  commonly 
by  a  solitary  matron,  sometimes  by  two 
or  three  aged  dames;  around  this  nu- 
cleus other  matrons  and  their  children 
gather  in  the  course  of  a  day  or  two; 
while  it  is  usually  three  or  four  days, 
and  sometimes  a  week,  before  the  broth- 
ers and  husbands  skulk  singly  or  in 
small  bands  into  the  new  rancheria. 

MARRIAGE 

The  most  striking  and  significant 
social  facts  discovered  among  the  Seri 
relate  to  marriage  customs. 

As  noted  repeatedly  elsewhere,  the 
tribal  population  is  preponderantly  femi- 
nine, so  that  polygyny  naturally  pre- 
vails ;  the  number  of  wives  reaches  three 
or  possibly  four,  averaging  about  two, 
though  the  younger  warriors  commonly 
have  but  one,  and  there  are  always  a 
number  of  spouseless  (widowed)  dames, 
but  no  single  men  of  marriageable  age. 
So  far  as  could  be  ascertained,  no  special 
formalities  attend  the  taking  of  super- 
numerary wives,  who  are  usually  wid- 
owed sisters  of  the  first  spouse.  It  seems 
to  be  practically  a  family  affair,  governed 
by  considerations  of  convenience  rather 
than  established  regulations — an  irregu- 
larity combining  with  other  facts  to  sug- 
gest that  polygyny  is  incidental,  and 
perhaps  of  comparatively  recent  origin. 

The  primary  mating  of  the  Seri  is  at- 


tended by  observances  so  elaborate  as  to 
show  that  marriage  is  one  of  the  pro- 
foundest  sacraments  of  the  tribe,  pene- 
trating the  innermost  recesses  of  tribal 
thought,  and  interwoven  with  the  essen- 
tial fibers  of  tribal  existence.  Few,  if 
an)-,  other  peoples  devote  such  anxious 
care  to  their  mating  as  do  the  Seri,* 
and  among  no  other  known  tribe  or  folk 
is  the  moral  aspect  of  conjugal  union  so 
rigorously  guarded  by  collective  action 
and  individual  devotion. 

The  initial  movement  toward  formal 
marriage  seems  to  be  somewhat  indef- 
inite (or  perhaps,  rather,  spontaneous). 
According  to  Mashem,  it  may  be  made 
either  by  the  prospective  groom  or  by 
his  father,  though  not  directly  by  the 
maiden  or  her  kinswomen.  In  any  event 
the  prerequisites  for  the  union  are  pro- 
visionally determined  in  the  suitor's 
family.  These  relate  to  the  suitability 
of  age,  the  propriety  of  the  clan  rela- 
tion, etc.,  for  no  stripling  may  seriously 
contemplate  matrimony  until  he  has  en- 
tered manhood  (apparently  correspond- 
ing with  the  warrior  class),  nor  can  he 
mate  in  his  own  totem,  though  all  other 
clans  of  the  tribe  are  apparently  open  to 
him,  while  the  maiden  must  have  passed 
(apparently  by  a  considerable  time)  her 
puberty  feast.  In  any  event,  too,  the 
proposal  is  formally  conveyed  by  the 
elderwoman  of  the  suitor's  family  to 
the  maiden's  clanmother,  when  it  is  duly 
pondered,  first  by  this  dame  and  her 
daughter  matrons,  and  later  ( if  the  pro- 
posal is  entertained)  it  is  deliberated  and 
discuss2d  at  length  by  the  matrons  of 
the  two  clans  involved,  who  commonly 
hold  repeated  councils  for  the  purpose. 
At  an  undetermined  stage  and  to  an  un- 
determined degree  the  maiden  herself  is 
consulted ;  certainly  she  holds  the  power 
of  veto,  ostensible  if  not  actual.  Pend- 

*  Perhaps  the  closest  parallel  in  this  respect 
is  that  found  in  the  elaborate  marriage  regula- 
tions prevailing  among  the  Australian  aborig- 
ines, as  described  by  Spencer  and  Gillen,  Walter 
E.  Roth,  and  other  modern  observers. 


ing  the  deliberations  the  maiden  receives 
special  consideration  and  enjoys  vari- 
ous dignities.  If  circumstances  favor, 
her  kinswomen  erect  a  jacal  for  her,  and 
even  if  circumstances  are  adverse,  she 
is  outfitted  with  a  pelican  robe  of  six 
or  eight  pelts  and  other  matronly  requi- 
sites. 

When  all  parties  concerned  are  event- 
ually satisfied  a  probationary  marriage 
is  arranged,  and  the  groom  leaves  his 
clan  and  attaches  himself  to  that  of  the 
bride.  Two  essential  conditions — one  of 
material  character  and  the  other  moral — 
are  involved  in  this  probationary  union. 
In  the  first  place,  the  groom  must  be- 
come the  provider  for  and  the  protector 
of  the  entire  family  of  the  bride,  includ- 
ing the  dependent  children  and  such 
cripples  and  invalids  as  may  be  tolerated 
by  the  tribe — i.  e. ,  he  must  display  and 
exercise  skill  in  turtle-fishing,  strength 
in  the  chase,  subtlety  in  warfare,  and  all 
other  physical  qualities  of  competent 
manhood.  This  relation,  with  the  at- 
tendant obligations,  holds  for  a  year — 
/'.  e. ,  a  round  of  the  seasons.  During 
the  same  period  the  groom  shares  the 
jacal  and  sleeping  robe  provided  for  the 
prospective  matron  by  her  kinswomen, 
not  as  privileged  spouse,  but  merely  as 
a  protecting  companion  ;  and  through- 
out this  probationary  term  he  is  com- 
pelled to  maintain  continence — /.  e. ,  he 
must  display  the  most  indubitable  proofs 
of  moral  force. 

During  this  period  the  always  digni- 
fied position  occupied  by  the  daughter 
of  the  family  culminates.  She  is  the 


observed  of  all  observers,  the  subject 
gossip  among  matrons  and  warrior 
alike,  the  recipient  of  frequent  toker 
from  designing  sisters  with  an  eye 
shares  of  her  spouse's  spoils,  and  the 
receiver  of  material  supplies  measuring 
the  competence  of  the  would-be  hus- 
band. Through  his  energy  she  is  en- 
abled to  dispense  largess  with  lavi.- 
hand,  and  thus  to  dignify  her  clan  am 
honor  her  spouse  in  the  most  effecth 
way  known  to  primitive  life,  and  at  the 
same  time  she  enjoys  the  immeasurable 
moral  stimulus  of  realizing  that  she  is 
the  arbiter  of  the  fate  of  a  man  who  be- 
comes warrior  or  outcast  at  her  bidding, 
and  through  him  of  the  future  of  two 
clans — i.  e.,  she  is  raised  to  a  responsi- 
bility in  both  personal  and  tribal  affairs 
which,  albeit  temporary,  is  hardly  lower 
than  that  of  the  warrior  chief.  In  tribal 
theory  the  moral  test  measures  the  char- 
acter of  the  man  ;  in  very  fact,  it  at  the 
same  time  both  measures  and  makes  th< 
character  of  the  woman.  Among  othe 
privileges  bestowed  on  the  bride  during 
the  probationary  period  are  those  of  re- 
ceiving the  most  intimate  attentioi 
from  the  clanfellowsof  the  groom  ;  anc 
these  are  noteworthy  as  suggestions  of 
a  vestigial  polyandry  or  adelphogamv. 
At  the  close  of  the  year  the  probation 
ends  in  a  feast  provided  by  the  proba- 
tioner, who  thereupon  enters  the  bride's 
jacal  as  a  perpetual  guest  of  unlimited 
personal  privileges  (subject  to  tribal 
custom ) ,  while  the  bride  passes  from  a 
half- wanton  heyday  into  the  duller  rou- 
tine of  matronly  existence. 


The  Whaling  Steamer  Eric  leaves  Syd- 
ney, Nova  Scotia,  the  latter  part  of  July, 
to  carry  supplies  and  letters  to  Peary. 
Mr.  H.  Iy.  Bridgman,  Secretary  of  the 
Peary  Arctic  Club,  will  probably  accom- 
pany the  relief  party. 


The  Baldwin-Ziegler  North  Polar  Ex- 
pedition is  on  the  way  to  the  Arctic  re- 
gions. .Mr.  Baldwin,  before  leaving, 
declined  to  outline  his  plans  beyond 
stating  that  Franz  Josef  Land  would  be 
the  base  of  the  Arctic  campaign. 


VOL.  XII,  No.  8 


WASHINGTON 


ASIA,   THE   CRADLE   OF   HUMANITY' 

BY  W  J   McGEE,  VICE-PRESIDENT   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC 

SOCIETY 


NEVER  have  I  been  so  over- 
whelmed with  the  magnitude 
of  a  task  as  in  beginning  this 
attempt  to  epitomize  Asia  in  an  hour. 

Asia  is  the  Continent  of  continents;  a 
giant  land  to  which  Africa  is  but  an  ap- 
pendage and  all  Europe  only  an  excres- 
cence. L,arger  as  to  mainland  than 
both  Americas  combined,  Asia  with  her 
insular  extension  southeastward  might 
swallow  the  great  landmass  of  Africa 
with  Europe  in  addition.  Of  the  50, 
000,000  square  miles  of  land  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  Asia  holds  fully  15,000,000, 
or  three-tenths  of  all — indeed,  stretch- 
ing as  she  does  from  the  equator  to  the 
very  shadow  of  the  pole  and  within  a 
few  degrees  of  half  way  around  the 
globe,  she  is  as  a  world  in  herself,  and 
can  be  likened  to  the  rest  of  the  planet 
only  by  means  of  superlatives :  Her 
climate  ranges  from  the  utmost  .type 
of  torridity  to  extremest  cold,  from 
heaviest  equatorial  torrents  to  bleakest 
aridity,  from  recurrent  tropical  typhoon 
to  poleward  calm.  Her  features  are 
stupendous  as  her  expanse  is  vast :  The 
Himalaya  Mountains  and  the  Pamir 


Plateau — the  Asian  Highlander's  "  Roof 
of  the  World  ' '  — make  pygmies  of  all 
other  elevations  on  earth.  The  world's 
most  extensive  plain  forms  central  and 
northern  Asia,  and  comprises  the  great- 
est tundra  and  vastest  forest  on  the 
planet  ;  one  of  the  two  largest  deserts 
of  the  world  (Gobi,  with  its  extension 
in  Takla-Makan)  lies  at  the  eastern 
base  of  this  unparalleled  upland,  though 
out  of  the  world's  ten  rivers  exceed- 
ing 2,500  miles  in  length  six  are  in  Asia 
as  against  two  in  Africa  and  one  in 
either  America — and  even  this  reckon- 
ing misses  three  of  the  mightiest  among 
the  world's  waterways  (Ganges,  Brah- 
maputra, and  Indus),  rivers  raised  to 
foremost  rank  by  unequaled  loftiness  of 
basin  and  swiftness  of  flow.  Gauged 
by  any  measure,  Asia  is  Titanic,  the 
land  of  all  lands  in  length  and  breadth, 
the  queen  of  continents. 

Great  as  is  physical  Asia,  human  Asia 
is  far  greater  ;  for  as  the  home  of  man- 
kind and  the  cradle  of  culture,  she  out- 
counts  all  the  rest  of  earth.  Out  of 
the  world's  population  of  i  ,500,000,000, 
nearly  900,000,000,  or  six-tenths  of  the 


*The  closing  lecture  of  the  Afternoon  Course  of  1901  on  M  The  Growth  of  Asia." 


282         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


whole,  abide  in  Asia  ;  out  of  the  four  or 
five  or  more  races  of  men,  all  but  one 
(the  Amerind)  are  indigenes  of  Asia  or 
its  immediate  insular  and  peninsular  ex- 
tensions ;  and  if  Egypt  be  placed  with 
Arabia  (where  she  belongs  in  every  cul- 
tural aspect),  then  out  of  the  fifty  or 
eighty  centuries  of  recorded  history  run- 
ning from  the  hazy  dawn  of  antiquity  to 
the  clear  light  of  modernity,  the  earlier 
half  must  be  credited  wholly  to  Asia. 
Music  and  drama  were  old  in  Asia  be- 
fore Athens  and  Rome  were  planted, 
and   oriental   schools  of   painting  and 
sculpture  prepared  the  way  for  a  nobler 
culmination  in  Greece  and  Italy.     In 
industries,    the  long,    long   way  from 
bestial  tooth  and  claw  to  the  stone  knife 
and  thence  to  the  metal  tool  was  first 
trodden  by  Asian  folk  and  their  Egyp- 
tian brethren  ;  nearly  all  of  the  world's 
domesticated  animals  came  from  Asia, 
where  horses  and  kine,  sheep  and  swine, 
and  the  dog  and  fowl  were  tamed  in  the 
eastern  morning  of  humanity  (undoubt- 
edly through  uncounted  generations  of 
totemism  and   beast-worship  after   the 
manner  of  all  lowly  men)  and  the  cat  and 
the  camel  were  caught  in  some  part  of 
that  industrial    tide  which  ebbed  and 
flowed  over  the  Red  Sea  basin  for  mil- 
lenniums, while  the  hardy  reindeer  of 
the  arctic  and  the  ponderous  elephant 
of  the  tropics  were  enslaved  so  late  as 
yet  to  retain   the   characters   of   their 
wilder   kindred ;  so,    too,    the    world's 
richest  crop-plants,  like  wheat  and  rice, 
oats  and  barley,  were  created  in  Asia  by 
ages  of  experiment  to  feed  millions,  and 
to  render  all  other  lands  eternal  debtors 
to  the  queenly  continent.     The  funda- 
mental laws  of  the  world,  from  mother- 
right  to  the  Decalogue  and  from  blood- 
venge  to  the  Golden  Rule,  were  framed 
in  Asian  centers  and  tested  by  the  ex- 
perience of  millions  before  their  germs 
were  exported  by  Cecrops  and  Romulus 
and  sown  by  Solon  as  seeds  of  future 
justice  ;  and  it  is  to  Asia  that  the  stu- 
dent turns  for  the  longest  dynasties,  the 


largest  nations,  the  grandest  empires  in 
history.  Most  of  the  well-springs  of 
language  flowing  westward  to  unite-  in 
the  great  Aryan  reservoir  of  world- 
speech  arose  in  Asia ;  several  Asian 
centers  gave  letters  to  the  eastern  world 
long  before  Cadmus  came  to  Greece  ; 
and  despite  the  teeming  output  of  the 
occidental  press  of  a  century,  a  large 
share  of  the  literature  of  the  world  is 
still  Asian,  and  leading  poets  and  pro- 
saists of  western  lands  are  flocking  back 
to  the  oriental  storehouse  for  motives 
just  as  their  contemporaries  are  build- 
ing new  towns  out  of  the  ruins  (and  for 
the  spoils)  of  ancient  cities.  Of  the 
nine  world  religions  that  have  spread  to 
millions  of  men — Shintoism,  Brahman- 
ism,  Buddhism,  Taoism,  Confucianism, 
Judaism,  Zoroastrism,  Mohammedism, 
with  the  sublimation  of  their  finest  es- 
sences in  Christianity — all  were  nur- 
tured in  Asia,  and  all  but  one  attained 
highest  development  beyond  the  Bos- 
phorus  ;  indeed  of  the  modern  sciences, 
three — mathematics,  astronomy,  chem- 
istrj' — originated  in  the  almacabala  and 
astrology  and  alchemy  of  ancient  Asia; 
while  the  metaphysical  philosophies  of 
even  mid-European  shrines  are  dull  and 
feeble  besides  the  ethereal  emanations 
of  the  oriental  mind,  emanations  so  sub- 
tle yet  strong  as  to  react  in  bodily  ab- 
negation (in  the  self-immolation  of  the 
suttee,  in  the  ecstatic  self-torture  of  the 
dervish  dance,  and  in  the  hypnotic  self- 
paralysis  of  priestly  fakirs)  far  tran- 
scending the  saner  powers  of  the  western 
world. 

Such  is  human  Asia.  Seen  in  any 
aspect,  she  is  extended,  picturesque, 
majestic,  full  of  meaning  ;  viewed  in 
her  various  phases  at  once,  she  is  be- 
wildering in  wealth  of  detail,  if  not  an 
utter  chaos  of  redundant  facts.  It  were 
easier  to  deal  with  the  human  affairs  of 
all  of  the  rest  of  the  world  together  than 
with  those  of  Asia  alone. 

Happily  the  scientific  student  is  not 


b 


ASIA,   THE   CRADLE   OP   HUMANITY 


283 


unaccustomed  to  dealing  with  chaotic 
assemblages — indeed,  it  is  his  business 
to  classify  facts  by  their  relations,  to  re- 
duce these  to  principles,  and  thus  to 
bring  order  out  of  chaos.  Now  in  seek- 
ing to  classify  so  vast  an  array  of  facts 
as  that  presented  by  human  Asia,  it 
were  well  to  profit  by  the  widest  possi- 
ble range  of  experience,  by  the  wisdom 
of  the  ages  as  well  as  by  the  methods  of 
modern  science  ;  and  this  is  made  fairly 
easy  and  safe  by  the  nearly  uniform 
ways  in  which  the  minds  (and  the 
tongues)  of  men  respond  to  the  stimu- 
lus of  the  unknown — for  every  language 
has  its  spontaneous  interrogatives  aris- 
ing in  natural  order,  whereby  child  and 
sage  alike  seek  ever  to  enlarge  their  store 
of  knowledge. 

What  (or  who)?  Where?  How? 
Whence  (and  whither)  ?  Why  ?  These 
are  the  normal  interrogatives  of  our  vig- 
orous language  ;  they  may  be  translated 
into  other  tongues  so  widely  as  to  prove 
that  they  express  spontaneous  impulses 
of  inquiring  minds — indeed,  they  are 
thought  -  mates  to  demonstratives  of 
voice  or  gesture  shared  by  all  higher 
animals  ;  and  their  order  is  fairly  uni- 
form from  prattling  childhood  to  old  age, 
and  from  savagery  to  enlightenment. 
Science  finds  guidance  and  strength  in 
the  unreckoned  experience  embodied  in 
these  nature-questions,  yet  reciprocates 
in  full  measure  by  defining  the  questions 
more  clearly  and  fixing  their  order  on  a 
rational  basis  ;  and  it  is  through  this 
wedlock  between  common  sense  and 
practical  science  that  the  chaos  .of  Asian 
facts  may  perhaps  become  understand- 
able. 

THE  RACES  OF  ASIA 

What  are  the  peoples  of  Asia  ?  Time 
was  when  this  inquiry  would  have  been 
met  by  a  list  of  the  races  occupying  the 
great  continent,  defined  by -the  stand- 
ards of  the  day  ;  and  the  enumeration 
'might  have  ranged  from  two  to  a  score 
or  more,  according  to  the  definitions  of 


the  particular  doctor  thus  opening  the 
door  to  disagreement.  Of  late  less  at- 
tention is  given  to  racial  distinctions  : 
The  European  in  Asia  (whether  as  ad- 
venturing cyclist  or  pomp-girt  viceroy) 
is  far  less  concerned  with  the  racial  affin- 
ities of  the  villagers  than  with  their 
laws  of  hospitality  or  exclusion,  their 
customs  of  eating  and  lodging;  Dr.  Tal- 
cott  Williams  touches  race  questions  but 
lightly  on  his  way  to  the  far  weightier 
questions  of  intertribal  traffic  and  inter- 
national commerce  ;  Mr.  Barrett  passes 
easily  from  the  practically  immaterial 
race-bonds  of  the  Far  East  to  the  vital 
relations  arising  in  industries,  and  the 
potent  influences  founded  on  faith ;  Pro- 
fessor Morse  Stephens  properly  points 
to  the  racial  bases  of  rank  and  caste  in 
Indian  society,  but  justly  insists  on  the 
dominant  importance  of  the  economic 
factor  by  which  the  social  lines  have 
been  maintained  for  centuries  or  millen- 
niums ;  and  Professor  Grosvenor  sum- 
marizes Siberian  history  as  a  series  of  in- 
dustrial and  political  stages  each  deeper 
and  broader  than  the  last,  and  all  rising 
successively  higher  and  higher  above 
the  bonds  and  barriers  of  racial  affinity. 
These  instances  are  merely  straws  indi- 
cating the  drift  of  thought ;  they  might 
be  multiplied  indefinitely ;  and  all  point 
toward  the  growing  mass  of  current 
opinion  that  there  are  other  factors  of 
humanity  of  an  importance  transcend- 
ing ethnic  features  and  affinities.  Yet 
the  Continent  of  continents  cannot  be 
comprehended  in  its  fulness  without 
some  note  of  the  indigenous  races;  and 
with  a  single  exception  the  races  of  Asia 
are  practically  those  of  the  world. 

Passing  over  the  multitude  of  minor 
details  of  fact  and  opinion,  the  peoples 
of  the  world  may  be  assigned  to  five 
groups  or  divisions,  conveniently  termed 
races.  These  may  be  recapitulated  as 
(i)  the  Caucasian  or  white  race,  indig- 
enous in  western  Asia,  transplanted  to  all 
parts  of  Europe,  and  now  replanted  in 
every  land  ;  (2)  the  Malayan  or  brown 


284        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


race,  pertaining  chiefly  to  southern 
Asia  ;  (3)  the  Mongolian  or  yellow  race, 
of  eastern  and  northern  Asia  ;  (4)  the 
African,  or  black  race,  pertaining  chiefly 
to  central  and  southern  Africa,  but  rep- 
resented by  the  Negrito  of  southeastern 
Asia,  the  Blackfellow  of  Australia,  etc. ; 
and  (5)  the  Amerind  or  red  race,  indig- 
enous to  the  western  hemisphere,  but 
represented  in  northeastern  Asia  by 
immigrant  Eskimo  from  across  Bering 
Strait.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
these  groups  are  so  trenchantly  defined 
as  to  permit  the  confident  assignment  of 
every  people  to  one  or  another  of  them  ; 
neither  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  they  in- 
dicate in  any  adequate  way  the  origin 
and  distribution  of  mankind  over  the 
earth  ;  primarily  they  stand  merely  for 
a  series  of  types  or  ideals  about  which 
peoples  may  be  arranged  conveniently, 
with  more  or  less  uncertainty  concern- 
ing those  of  intermediate  characters. 
At  the  same  time  the  classification  has 
the  merit  of  expressing,  albeit  vaguely, 
an  obscure  and  unmeasured  attribute  of 
humanity,  which  may  be  designated 
race-sense  and  defined  as  that  instinct- 
ive sentiment  holding  unlike  peoples 
apart  and  drawing  like  peoples  into  ever 
closer  unity  of  character  and  purpose. 
Apparently  the  time  has  gone  by  for 
far-reaching  classifications  of  mankind 
by  so-called  race-characters  ;  the  fact 
that  the  doctors  disagree  so  widely  is  in 
itself  an  indication  that  there  is  some- 
thing radically  wrrong  with  the  system  ; 
yet  the  race-sense  of  primitive  folk,  with 
its  feebler  vestiges  among  even  the  most 
altruistic  and  philanthropic  of  mankind, 
is  a  factor  with  which  the  student  must 
reckon,  a  trustworthy  pointer  toward 
some  natural  law. 

CULTURE-STAGES  OF  ASIA 

In  view  of  the  overwhelming  and  ever- 
growing opinion  that  there  are  weightier 
factors  of  humanity  than  racial  affinities, 
it  behooves  the  student  of  human  Asia 


to  find  some  better  way  of  classifying 
and  describing  the  vast  and  variegated 
population  of  the  great  continent.  For- 
tunately, such  a  way  is  at  hand  ;  it  was 
developed  through  researches  among  the 
aborigines  of  America,  mainly  by  Powell , 
and  forms  the  basis  of  what  has  been 
called  the  New  Ethnology — a  science 
differing  from  its  prototype  in  that  it 
deals  with  men  as  human  beings  rather 
than  animals,  defining  them  by  what 
they  do  rather  than  by  what  they  merely 
are.  The  classification  is  based  on  cul- 
ture, using  this  term  in  a  sense  so  broad 
as  to  include  all  that  mankind  know. 
all  that  mankind  do. 

Now  when  the  multifarious  facts  of 
knowing  and  doing  are  first  assembled 
and  then  assorted  by  similarity,  certain 
kinds  of  knowledge  and  actions  (or  of 
activities,  if  a  single  term  be  used  to 
denote  both  knowing  and  doing)  are 
recognized,  namely,  (i)  knowledge  and 
actions  pertaining  to  the  arts,  or  esthetic 
activities  ;  (2)  knowledge  and  actions 
pertaining  to  industries  ;  (•£)  knowledge 
and  conduct  connected  with  convention 
or  law,  and  collectively  constituting  the 
social  activities ;  (4)  knowledge  and 
practices  involved  in  speech  and  writ- 
ing ;  and  (5)  opinions  and  observances 
connected  with  faith  and  philosophy, 
or  sophic  activities.  So,  in  brief,  all  that 
men  know  and  do  (and  hence  what  in  act- 
ive sense  they  are  in  the  visible  economy 
of  the  cosmos)  may  be  summed  as  per- 
taining respectively  to  arts,  industries, 
laws,  languages,  and  systems  of  faith 
or  opinion.  Furthermore,  when  the 
numberless  facts  pertaining  to  each 
great  activity  are  assorted  by  similarity, 
they  are  found  to  reveal  phases  which 
are  fairly  consistent  among  the  several 
activities  of  each  people,  yet  more  or 
less  diverse  among  different  peoples  ; 
and  by  these  phases  of  culture  the  peo- 
ples of  any  continent,  or  of  all,  may  be 
classified  more  usefully  than  by  racial, 
affinities — for  the  culture-phase  is  the 
real  index  to  what  the  people  think  and 


ASIA,    THE   CRADLE   OF    HUMANITY 


285 


do,  to  their  attitude  toward  one  another 
and  toward  other  peoples.  These  cul- 
ture-phases have  the  additional  and  im- 
measurably great  advantage  of  indicat- 
ing stages  of  development — but  of  that 
more  anon. 

Now  the  coincidence  between  culture 
and  the  activities  (or  the  harmony  be- 
tween what  men  know  and  what  men 
do)  is  so  close  that  the  culture-phases 
may  be  outlined  in  terms  of  arts,  in- 
dustries, and  the  other  activities,  either 
separately  or  jointly  ;  and  it  is  conve- 
nient and  customary  to  define  the  phases 
in  terms  of  law,  or  social  organization, 
with  due  reference  to  the  attendant 
faiths — for  it  is  to  be  remembered  that 
only  a  fraction  of  mankind  have  dissev- 
ered civil  from  ecclesiastical  law,  stat- 
ute from  commandment,  justice  from 
faith.  Defined  in  this  way,  culture  be- 
gins in  that  obscure  phase  shared  by 
men  and  such  animals  as  most  nearly 
approach  the  plane  of  human  thought 
and  conduct  (like  the  Bandar-log  of  Kip- 
ling) ;  and  this  indefinite  condition  is 
followed  by  the  wrell-established  phases 
of  (i)  savagery,  in  which  the  sole  law 
is  the  social  one  of  maternal  blood-kin- 
ship accompanied  by  a  profound  ani- 
mism— /.  e. ,  faith  in  a  vague  pantheon 
of  beast-gods  ;  (2)  barbarism,  in  which 
the  laws  are  chiefly  social,  in  which  so- 
ciety is  based  on  real  or  assumed  con- 
sanguinity traced  through  the  paternal 
line,  and  in  which  sun,  fire,  and  other 
impressive  nature-objects  are  personi- 
fied, either  as  beasts  or  as  men,  and 
added  to  the  pantheon  ;  (3)  civilization, 
in  which  the  lawrs  relate  primarily  to 
territorial  and  other  proprietary  rights, 
while  the  beliefs  are  more  or  less 
completely  spiritualized,  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  functions  more  or  less 
completely  divorced  ;  and  (4)  enlight- 
enment, in  which  the  law  is  based  on 
the  right  of  the  individual  to  life,  lib- 
erty, and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and 
in  which  faith  works  as  a  moral  force. 
The  first  two  of  these  phases  represent 


tribal  law,  the  last  two  national  law  ; 
and  it  is  especially  noteworthy  that 
throughout  all  tribal  culture  the  law  is 
dominated  by  faith,  while  in  national 
culture  faith  is  blent  with,  or  controlled 
by,  the  principles  of  justice  and  right 
established  by  experience. 

Classified  by  culture-phases,  human 
Asia  loses  nothing  of  her  supremacy 
among  the  continents  save  at  a  single 
point  ;  three  of  the  great  classes  are 
represented  among  her  peoples,  two  of 
them  (barbarism  and  civilization)  more 
numerously  if  not  more  typically  than 
elsewhere  on  earth  ;  she  lacks  only  in- 
digenous enlightenment — that  broadest 
phase  of  culture  which  all  the  world 
awaited  until  it  budded  in  Switzerland 
and  blossomed  in  America. 

PEOPLES  OF  ASIA 

In  the  light  of  this  classification  the 
first  large  question  as  to  the  peoples 
of  Asia  is  easily  answered  :  They  com- 
prise an  assemblage,  with  more  or  less 
intermixture,  of  all  the  wrorld's  races  ; 
they  comprise  a  few  tribes  of  lowly  sav- 
ages still  clad  in  leaves,  still  fearing  and 
worshiping  beastly  associates,  still  cling- 
ing to  the  beastly  diet  of  raw  fruit  and 
flesh,  still  dreading  contact  with  alien 
men  and  broader  culture  ;  they  comprise 
also  the  world's  best  and  largest  exam- 
ples of  barbaric  life,  from  its  poorest 
squalor  to  its  richest  pomp  and  circum- 
stance ;  and  they  comprise  subjects  of 
monarchical  nations  of  nearly  every 
known  type  from  pettiest  principality  to 
most  resplendent  empire. 

In  the  light  of  the  same  classification 
it  would  be  a  simple  task  to  answer  to- 
gether the  second  and  the  third  great 
questions  as  to  human  Asia — i.  e. ,  Where 
are  the  peoples  ?  How  do  these  peoples 
live,  move,  and  have  being  ?  But  such 
is  the  vastitude  of  the  queenly  conti- 
nent, the  magnitude  of  her  population, 
the  multitude  of  her  tribal  and  national 
divisions,  that  the  full  answer  would  in- 


evitably  reduce  itself  either  to  a  mass  of 
statistics,  or  to  a  catalogue  of  facts  sum- 
marized in  every  encyclopedia,  even  in 
scores  of  school  geographies — the  facts 
are  literally,  in  the  phrase  of  the  auc- 
tioneer's bill,  "too  numerous  to  men- 
tion." Yet  facts  of  object,  place,  and 
agency  too  many  for  statement  but  form 
a  chaos  which  all  scientists  of  recent 
years  concur  in  reducing — or  at  least 
in  seeking  to  reduce — to  the  order  sug- 
gested by  the  fourth  nature-question, 
Whence  ?  And  this  inquiry  is  answered 
by  a  statement  of  the  facts  in  terms  of 
genesis,  growth,  evolution,  or  (to  use  the 
broadest  term  of  all)  development.  The 
genesis  of  the  primeval  Asian  is  indeed 
lost  in  the  haze  of  prehistoric  antiquity, 
or  even  worse  enshrouded  in  the  mists 
of  myth-burdened  tradition  ;  yet  the 
sciences  of  geology  and  archeology  and 
ethnology,  on  the  one  hand,  and  critical 
history  interpreted  in  their  light  on  the 
other  hand,  combine  to  illumine  in  some 
degree  the  obscure  problems  of  early 
man.  So,  too,  the  chains  of  develop- 
mental succession  among  the  races  and 
peoples,  tribes  and  nations,  of  the  great 
continent  are  regrettably  incomplete  ; 
many  links  are  lacking  even  from  the 
longest,  while  some  are  too  short  to  give 
good  ground  for  confidence  concerning 
their  invisible  portions  ;  yet  all  are  suf- 
ficiently consistent  in  trend,  and  so  far 
accordant  in  direction  with  those  found 
in  other  lands  and  among  other  peoples, 
as  to  render  them  worthy  of  tracing. 

A  BIRTHPLACE  OF  MANKIND 

Most,  or  all,  of  the  leading  naturalists 
and  anthropologists  of  the  day  agree 
fairly  as  to  a  probable  birthplace  of 
Homo  sapiens.  Ernst  Haeckel,  the  fore- 
most German  naturalist  of  his  genera- 
tion, assumed  that  the  human  species 
originated  in  a  now  submerged  region 
between  India  and  northern  Africa, 
known  as  Lemuria,  the  land  of  the  lemur; 
Brinton,  recognizing  the  vestiges  of 


mountain  life  in  the  morning  of  hi 
inanity,  looked  to  the  upland  /one- 
stretching  from  the  Alps  to  the  Hima- 
layas, and  especially  to  the  western  part 
of  this  belt,  as  the  home  of  man  pri- 
meval ;  Keane  finds  suggestions  of  four 
birthplaces  for  so  many  widely  distinct 
race-stocks,  but  locates  all  in  the  same 
quarter  of  the  globe  ;  while  other  stu- 
dents, impressed  by  the  evidence  of  lo\ 
est  savagery  that  primeval  man  must 
have  been  both  arborean  and  orarian — 
both  forest-dweller  and  shore-dweller— 
and  impressed  also  by  the  archeologic 
evidences  of  antiquity  in  southern  A 
have  regarded  the  shores  of  Indian 
Ocean  with  its  affluent  bays  as  the  re- 
gion of  earliest  human  development. 
Within  a  few  years  these  inferences  have 
been  strikingly  corroborated  by  the  dis- 
covery of  the  long-mooted  "missing 
link,"  Pithecanthropus  erectus — upright 
monkey-man — in  late  Pliocene  deposits 
of  Java  by  Eugene  Du  Bois.  This  dis- 
covery was  of  prime  importance  to  the 
scientific  world,  and  especially  to  the 
student  of  Asia,  on  various  accounts  : 
in  the  first  place,  the  bones  are  more 
nearly  intermediate  between  those  of 
Homo  and  those  of  the  higher  subhu- 
man anthropoids  than  any  skeleton 
known  before  ;  in  the  second  place,  the 
geographic  position  of  the  fossil  serves 
at  once  to  verify  previous  inferences  and 
to  locate  more  clearly  than  any  (or  in- 
deed all)  other  evidence  the  home  of  a 
human  prototype  ;  while,  in  the  third 
place,  the  deposits  in  which  the  remains 
were  found  afford  the  most  trust  wort  hy 
record  of  the  geologic  age  of  a  Homo- 
like  creature  thus  far  obtained.* 

So  the  Pithecanthropus  erectus  of  Du 
Bois  gives  the  starting  point  for  the 
tracing  of  human  development  on  the 
Continent  of  continents  ;  the  testimony 
of  the  fossil  is  supported  by  other  scien- 

*The  most  accessible  and  satisfactory  ac- 
count of  this  fossil  may  be  found  in  the  Smith- 
sonian Report  for  1898,  pp.  445-459,  pis.  i-in, 
figs.  1-4. 


ASIA,   THE   CRADLE   OF   HUMANITY 


287 


tific  evidence  already  written  in  entire 
volumes  ;  and  when  interpreted  in  the 
light  of  known  human  development,  it 
is  in  significant  harmony  with  the 
world's  oldest  lore  and  earliest  litera- 
ture— for  it  marks  the  quarter  of  the 
earth  glorified  as  the  place  of  creation 
in  the  traditions  of  the  Far  East,  in  the 
Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  in  Hellenic 
mythology,  in  the  more  mystical  por- 
tions of  the  Koran,  as  well  as  in  our  own 
Classic  of  the  Ages,  and  in  the  belief  of 
most  of  humanity.  The  prevailing  faith 
of  mankind  is  not,  indeed,  of  a  kind 
with  the  testimony  of  rocks  and  fossils; 
yet  the  dusty  evidence  is  enlivened  by 
its  harmony  with  the  essence  of  know- 
ledge summed  in  the  coincident  tradi- 
tions of  many  peoples. 

COURSE  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS 

In  tracing  the  obscure  trails  of  early 
human  development,  it  were  well  to 
avoid  a  notion  instinctive  to  all  man- 
kind, fostered  by  hero-worship  and  hon- 
orable regard  for  worthy  grandsires, 
kept  alive  by  the  unassailable  doctrines 
of  biology,  and  adopted  by  every  an- 
thropologist at  the  outset  of  his  career 
(and  dropped  only  by  part  of  them  as 
their  studies  progress) — i,  e.,  the  no- 
tion that  the  human  genus  necessarily 
sprang  from  a  single  parentage,  neces- 
sarily arose  in  a  single  place.  The  fact 
that  the  genealogic  tree  of  the  biologist 
is  the  antithesis,  or  reverse,  of  that  of 
the  genealogist,  receives  too  little  atten- 
tion :  the  one  begins  with  a  known  or 
assumed  primordial  form,  and  divari- 
cates and  diverges  forward  in  time  to  a 
diversified  progeny ;  while  the  other  be- 
gins with  a  certain  descendant,  and  bi- 
furcates and  expands  backward  in  time 
to  a  diversified  ancestry.  Now  the 
dominant  fact  of  anthropology — the  fact 
attested  by  every  experience  and  denied 
by  no  observation — is  well  illustrated 
by  the  tree  of  human  genealogy ;  it  is  the 


constant  convergence  of  developmental 
lines,  whereby  families  are  united  in 
clans,  clans  blent  into  tribes,  tribes 
joined  in  confederacies,  racial  lines  ob- 
literated, cities  assimilated  in  states,  and 
states  combined  in  nations.  The  great 
fact  brought  out  by  the  Science  of  Man 
is  that  human  stocks,  whether  of  blood 
or  belief,  language  or  industries,  are  not 
originating,  have  not  originated  since 
history  began,  and  are  steadily  blend- 
ing, running  together  into  that  great 
magma  of  humanity  already  encircling 
the  globe  and  surely  pushing  into  the 
most  distant  corners  of  the  remotest 
lands.  How  many  were  the  original 
races  no  man  may  say ;  "Keane  estimates 
four  primary  race-stocks,  but  this  num- 
ber might  be  multiplied,  probably  many 
times,  without  violence  to  any  known 
fact  or  direct  generalization  in  the  en- 
tire domain  of  the  Science  of  Man. 
The  Gordian  entanglement  of  innate 
notion,  biologic  doctrine,  and  anthro- 
pologic  observation  may  not  readily  be 
undone;  it  suffices  to  sound  a  warning 
against  the  besetting  hypothesis  of  mo- 
nogenesis,  and  note  the  greater  proba- 
bility that,  just  as  the  inhabitants  of 
India  are  not  a  people  but  many  peo- 
ples, so  the  ancestry  of  human  Asia  is 
to  be  traced  not  so  much  to  man  prim- 
eval as  to  many  men  primeval  scattered 
in  separate  colonies  along  her  fertile  and 
fruitful  southern  shores  during  the  geo- 
logically near,  but  historically  remote, 
period  of  the  later  Pliocene. 

Beginning  with  the  Pithecanthropus 
colony  and  a  dozen  or  a  score  others,  and 
assuming  that  the  habits  of  the  proto- 
type stood  midway  between  those  of  the 
higher  anthropoids  and  surviving  sav- 
ages, various  glimpses  of  the  inevitable 
lines  of  development  may  be  caught. 
At  first  the  colonies  were  clans  or  en- 
larged families,  something  like  those  of 
the  gorilla,  more  like  those  of  the  Aus- 
tralian Blackfellow  and  the  American 
Red  man,  each  antagonistic  to  all  others; 


288 


THE  NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


in  time  some  of  these  grew  into  the  cus- 
tom of  interclan  mating,  thereby  learn- 
ing for  the  first  time  in  the  human  world 
the  great  lesson  of  experience,  that  in 
union  there  is  strength  ;  in  this  way 
some  clans  grew  into  tribes,  while  others 
were  either  .absorbed  or  extinguished 
under  the  hard  law  of  natural  selection — 
and  the  vestiges  and  proof  of  this  stage 
survive  today  among  the  leaf-wearing 
and  rat-eating  savages  of  southeastern 
Asia,  savages  whose  gods  are  beasts  and 
whose  worship  is  debasing  fear.  In 
this  stage  the  law  of  organization  was 
maternal  descent — for  at  the  outset  and 
long  after,  the  mystery  of  paternity  re- 
mained unsolved.  With  the  growth  of 
tribes  along  the  fecund  lowlands,  some 
were  forced  into  the  adjacent  uplands, 
and  eventually  into  the  higher  moun- 
tains ;  the  relief  from  tribal  pressure 
brought  partial  surcease  of  strife,  yet 
demanded  harder  peaceful  labor,  sharper 
shrewdness  in  the  chase,  greater  activity 
of  body  and  mind  ;  so  that  those  who 
would  purchase  peace  bought  at  the  cost 
of  vigorous  exercise,  yet  were  in  due 
time  rewarded  by  the  superior  faculty 
born  of  stressful  organic  function.  In- 
cidentally those  who  pushed  highest  on 
the  Titanic  stairway  leading  to  the  Roof 
of  the  World  breathed  the  more  deeply 
and  of  a  purer  air  ;  the  hepatic  activity 
required  to  throw  off  the  miasmatic  poi- 
sons of  the  coast  diminished,  and  the 
respiratory  activity  required  by  longer 
journeying  and  steeper  climbing  in- 
creased in  larger  measure — and  thereby 
the  excess  of  pigment  in  skin  and  inner 
tissues  was  eliminated,  and  the  face  of 
the  human  forbear  bleached  to  brown, 
to  yellow,  and  at  last  to  the  tinted  white- 
ness of  standards  which  grew  as  the  color 
changed.  This  was  but  one  of  the  ways 
of  human  beautification,  whereby  prog- 
nathic  jaws  were  retracted,  arms  short- 
ened, legs  straightened,  and  the  hirsute 
covering  cast  off  and  concentrated  to  the 
feminine  crown  and  masculine  halo — 


but  this  most  entrancing  of  all  the  lin 
of  human  progress,  measuring  as  it  d 
the  rise  of  young  affection  and  t 
growth  of  human  feeling,  must 
passed  over.*  Meantime  strength  jjre 
with  exercise  and  self-confidence  with 
strength,  until  the  hill  tribesmen  and 
the  denizens  of  deserts  made  conquest 
of  their  animal  contemporaries,  slaying 
the  fierce  and  taming  the  gentle,  and  so 
far  made  conquest  of  trees  and  rocks  as 
to  utilize  them  for  tools  and  utensils  . 
and  as  self-confidence  grew,  fear  and 
worship  were  withdrawn  from  visible 
beasts,  from  tangible  trees  and  rocks 
and  rivers,  and  were  concentrated  on  the 
remoter  mysteries  of  sun  and  storm 
though  these  were  long  personified 
superpotent  animals.  Meantime,  too 
the  problem  of  paternity  was  solved,  an 
the  law  was  so  reconstructed  as  to  cluster 
about  paternal  relationship.  This  stage 
in  the  development  of  the  Asian  people 
is  represented  today  by  some  of  the  hill 
tribes  of  India,  some  of  the  remoter  folk 
of  Thibet,  some  of  the  groups  abou 
Lake  Baikal  ;  it  is  represented  also  b 
the  world's  best-known  records  of  patri- 
archy in  olden  times. 

The  meaningful  feature  of  the  growth 
from  savage  clan  to  patriarchal  tribe 
thus  outlined  is  its  spontaneity,  its  ne- 
cessity ;  for,  with  the  given  conditions 
of  organic  structure  and  budding  intelli- 
gence, the  way  from  savagery  to  bar 
barism  is  certain  and  sure  as  the  grow 
of  the  plant  from  its  seed,  as  the  develop- 
ment of  the  insect  from  egg  to  larva,  as 
the  flow  of  a  river  formed  by  highland 
tributaries  on  its  way  to  the  sea.  Herein 
lies  the  lesson  of  the  special  usefulness 
of  the  great  culture-phases  in  the  classi- 
fication of  mankind  ;  they  may  be  lik- 

*  The  subject  may  be  pursued  in  "  The  Trend 
of  Human  Progress,"  American  Anthropolo- 
gist, n.  s.,  vol.  i,  1899,  pp.  415-418,  and  in 
"The  Sen  Indians,"  Seventeenth  Report  of 
the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  part  I, 
1898,  especially  pp.  154-163,  279-287. 


ASIA,   THE    CRADLE   OF   HUMANITY 


289 


ened  to  the  insect  stages  of  ovum,  larva, 
pupa,  imago  ;  they  may  succeed  more 
swiftly  or  linger  longer  in  coming,  but 
under  natural  conditions  they  must  fol- 
low their  established  order  of  growth, 
unless  interrupted  by  the  extinction  of 
the  stock.  Nor  is  it  to  be  supposed  that 
the  stages  are  hypothetic  or  uncertain  ; 
for  their  definition  rests  on  the  sum  of 
observed  facts  not  only  of  Asian  peoples 
but  of  those  of  all  the  world. 

THE  RISE  OF  NATIONS 

Now  the  hill  tribes  of  Asia  at  first  de- 
veloped faster  than  those  of  the  shore- 
lands,  and  sent  branches  or  isolated  colo- 
nies in  all  directions  ;  one  of  the  earliest, 
and  in  all  respects  the  most  noteworthy, 
of  the  human  streams  trickled  westward 
through  the  passes  of  the  Caucasus  and 
over  the  sands  of  Suez,  to  grow  gradu- 
ally into  the  world's  greatest  peoples  ; 
another  branch  apparently  crept  around 
the  western  flanks  of  the  Pamir,  and 
then  filtered  eastward  to  form  the  tribes 
of  the  Middle  Kingdom,  to  displace  the 
earlier  comers  by  more  easterl)-  routes, 
and  to  grow  at  last  into  the  world's  most 
populous  empire  ;  still  other  rivulets 
flowed  northward  even  unto  the  shores 
of  the  Arctic  ;  while  some  of  the  strong- 
est streams  of  blood  and  culture  ebbed 
'again  toward  the  Indian  lowiands, 
sweeping  the  most  sluggish  indigenes 
westward  to  the  Dark  Continent  (where 
they  doubtless  foregathered  with  local 
groups)  and  eastward  into  Malacca  and 
the  great  archipelago  stretching  thence 
to  Australia.  Yet  not  all  of  the  indig- 
enes were  displaced  ;  enough  still  re- 
main to  form  that  stratified  series  of 
peoples  and  cultures  described  by  Pro- 
fessor Morse  Stephens  and  defined  by 
the  world's  most  striking  examples  of 
race-sense — for,  in  spite  of  the  economic 
factors,  the  castes  of  India  find  their 
roots  in  racial  antipathies. 

The  story  of  the  growth  of  intertribal 


commerce,  of  the  Alexandrian  invasion, 
and  of  the  pushing  of  Asian  influence 
into  Europe  has  already  been  told  by 
one  of  us  ;  *  the  story  of  the  welding  of 
Mongolian  tribes  into  a  nation  and  em- 
pire, and  of  the  westerly  crusade  aimed 
for  Christianity  but  content  to  stop  at 
Buddhism,  has  been  told  by  another  ;  f 
the  story  of  slow  confederation  among 
the  tribes  of  India,  and  of  more  rapid 
national  assimilation  under  the  influence 
of  alien  empire,  has  also  been  told  ;  \ 
while  the  story  of  the  absorption  of 
those  northern  tribes  occupying  the 
world's  greatest  woodland  and  tundra 
by  one  of  the  foremost  world-powers 
is  still  fresh  in  mind.§  So  these  events 
and  episodes  of  Asian  development,  im- 
portant though  they  be,  may  be  passed 
over. 

HUMAN  ANTIQUITY  IN  ASIA 

The  developmental  outline  of  human 
Asia  would  be  incomplete  without  some 
intimation  as  to  the  relative  antiquity 
of  mankind  on  the  great  continent  and 
elsewhere.  Fortunately  the  geologic  es- 
timate is  made  definite  for  Asia,  and  for 
other  lands  as  well,  by  the  finding  of  the 
fossil  prototype,  Pithecanthropus,  in  late 
Pliocene  deposits  ;  and  so  far  as  definite 
knowledge  goes  this  forms  the  geologic 
and  archeologic  datum-point  for  the 
world.  The  archeologic  record  is  con- 
sistent with  that  of  geology,  in  so  far 
as  the  time-measures  of  the  two  sciences 
are  commensurate ;  the  partly  tradi- 
tional history  of  China  runs  more  than 
fifty  centuries  into  the  past,  yet  begins 

*  Dr.  Talcott  Williams  on  Western  Asia  ; 
printed  in  this  volume  as  "The  Link  Rela- 
tions of  Southwestern  Asia." 

t  Hon.  John  Barrett  on  Eastern  Asia;  printed 
in  this  volume  under  the  title  "China:  Her 
History  and  Development." 

%  Prof.  H.  Morse  Stephens  on  Southern  Asia  ; 
soon  to  be  printed. 

§  Prof.  Edwin  A.  Grosvenor  on  Northern 
Asia  ;  also  soon  to  be  printed. 


290         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


with  accounts  of  conquest  over  earlier 
peoples  and  with  great  eras*  which  must 
have  begun  far  earlier  still  ;  the  sacred 
books  of  India  summarize  several  mil- 
lenniums of  history  from  the  days  when 
"  the  noble  races  had  to  struggle  with 
the  low-caste  tribes,  people  of  black 
complexion  and  flat  nose,  and  even  with 
the  Anasikas,  demons,  and  monkeys," 
up  to  modern  centuries — and  even  at  this 
beginning  there  were  long  eras,  like  the 
Kali-vug,  implying  traditional  preser- 
vation of  observations  for  millenniums 
already  past ;  and  throughout  south- 
western Asia  and  Egypt  ruin  is  super- 
posed on  ruin,  and  the  later  ruins  are 
so  identified  by  records  of  fifty  centu- 
ries and  more  of  history  as  to  indicate 
an  occupation  of  certainly  80  to  100, 
and  probably  150  to  200,  centuries  from 
the  beginning  to  the  present.  The  his- 
torical record  of  human  Asia  is  long, 
very  long  ;  the  archeologic  record  runs 
a  long  way  farther  into  the  past  through 
a  succession  of  relics  and  ruins  beyond 

*  Chinese  chronologers  reckon  their  history 
by  dynasties  running  back  to  the  era  of  Yao, 
beginning  B.  C.  2397.  Still  more  impressive 
are  their  natural  time  units  ;  for  not  only  were 
the  Chinese  astronomers  familiar  with  the  luni- 
splar  period  (or  eclipse  cycle)  of  7,421  luna- 
tions or  600  years,  known  as  the  Chaldean 
naros,  long  before  the  cycle  was  recognized  in 
the  west,  but  they  conjoined  this  with  an 
arbitrary  period  of  60  days  to  form  the  Chinese 
Great  Year  of  57,105  lunations,  or  4,617  years 
(Bibliographic  g£ne"rale  de  1'Astronomie,  par 
J.  C.  Houzeau  et  A.  Lancaster,  tome  premier, 
premiere  partie,  18^7  [Introduction],  p.  95  ; 
cf.  "Comparative  Chronology,"  American 
Anthropologist,  vol.  v,  1892,  pp.  327-330). 


compare  in  Europe  or  Africa,  imm 
urably  beyond  the  earliest  human  tra 
of  the  western  world. 

So,  it  is  just  to  consider  Asia 
cradle  of  humanity;  within  her  ample 
borders  the  earliest  races  sprang,  over 
her  shorelands  and  uplands  the  earlier 
culture-stages  were  developed,  and  from 
her  plains  and  mountains  all  other  lands 
were  at  least  partly  peopled.  More  than 
this  ;  Asia  witnessed  within  her  own 
borders  the  natural  growth  of  nations 
from  crude  confederacy  at  the  beginning 
of  barbarism  to  brilliant  empire.  Yea, 
and  still  more;  Asia  illumined  the  world 
with  its  brightest  examples  of  ennob- 
ling faith,  from  the  crude  shamanism 
and  Shintoism  that  did  good  sen-ice  in 
their  time,  through  higher  and  higher 
stages  to  the  Golden  Rule  of  Confucius  in 
the  Far  East,  to  the  Light  of  Asia  in  the 
great  midland,  and  at  last  to  the  Light 
of  the  World  in  far  western  Palestine. 

THE  WORLD'S  DEBT  TO  ASIA 

On  the  whole,  when  the  Continent  of 
continents  is  fairly  viewed  in  her  length 
and  fullness  of  history  as  in  her  breadth 
and  wealth  of  land,  Asia  must  be  held 
at  once  the  cradle  of  humanity,  the 
birthplace  of  nations,  the  nursery  of  the 
world's  religions;  and  all  right-thinking 
men  must  hope  that  the  debt  of  the 
western  world  to  the  queenly  continent 
will  be  paid  in  full  measure,  and  in  peace 
and  good-will  to  the  men  of  ancient  lin- 
eage, whether  their  skins  be  brown  or 
yellow. 


THE    LINK    RELATIONS    OF    SOUTH- 
WESTERN   ASIA* 

BY  TALCOTT  WILLIAMS,  LL.   D. 


WHATEVER  test,  therefore, 
we  adopt,  whether  we  regard 
the  differences  of  precipita- 
tion, weather,  or  plants,  whether  we 
trace  the  distribution  of  species  or  the 
wanderings  of  the  human  race — only  a 
degree  less  unconsciously  flowing  in  the 
channels  made  by  the  invisible  walls 
of  temperature,  rain,  elevation,  and 
their  joint  product  in  the  vegetable  and 
animal  world — we  reach  at  last  in  man 
the  same  distribution  of  life  more  highly 
organized  in  urban  conditions  on  the  east 
and  west,  with  a  narrow  linked  region 
connecting  them,  between  vast  northern 
and  southern  spaces.  In  these  the  rigor 
or  the  vigor  of  climate  and  the  perpetual 
conflict  of  continental  areas  develop  sin- 
gle, dominant,  destructive,  or  exclusive 
types,  as  the  ocean  spaces  the  shark, 
once  absent  from  seas  like  the  Mediter- 
ranean. The  effect  of  this  on  warfare  in 
northern  Asia  is  perhaps  best  illustrated 
by  the  differing  arrow  release  to  which 
that  observant  and  ingenious  ethnolo- 
gist, Prof.  E.  S.  Morse,  long  since  drew 
attention.  As  we  pass  from  the  simple 
primary  thumb  and  forefinger  release 
of  the  savage  to  the  three-finger  release 
of  the  Mediterranean  races  and  on  to 
the  thumb  ring  of  the  Mongolian  arrow 
release,  we  are  passing  through  a  suc- 
cessive development  in  missile  weapons, 
of  which  the  last  represents  the  strong- 
est and  shortest  bow  and  the  weightier 
missile — the  highest  development  which 
this  weapon  has  reached  on  horseback. 
Joined  to  the  habit  of  concerted  action 
and  the  capacity  for  wide  rule  which 
the  plains  races  always  develop,  whether 
they  be  the  Arab  of  the  Southern  plains, 


the  Turk  or  Tatar  of  the  Northern 
plains,  or  even  the  Teuton  of  that  brief 
analogue  of  the  Riverine  plains  of  Asia, 
which  lies  just  north  of  the  mountain 
masses  of  Europe,  there  exists,  both  in 
warfare  and  in  predatory  organization, 
an  overmastering  advantage  in  the  races 
to  the  north  and  the  races  to  the  south. 
If  we  ask  why  these  riders  have  not 
ridden  down  the  world  about  and  broken 
this  link  between  the  development  of 
the  East  and  the  West,  it  is  because  the 
bridge  is  protected  by  the  dike  created 
by  the  elevations  extending  from  the 
center  uplifts  of  Asia  and  Europe,  as 
Professor  Suess  has  shown  perhaps  more 
clearly  than  any  other  physiographer. 
When  the  mountain  ranges  are  reduced 
as  they  are  in  his  diagrammatic  map  to 
elementary  conditions,  it  is  at  once  ap- 
parent that  a  continuous  chain  runs  from 
the  Pamir  Dagh  to  the  end.  There  the 
curving  Carpathian  line  loses  itself  in 
the  Noric  Alps  at  the  point  where  the 
Danube  breaks  through  and  the  Celtic 
huts  of  Vindobona  have  been  replaced  by 
the  roofs  and  towers  of  Vienna.  To 
the  south  this  linked  region  is  differ- 
ently separated.  The  Pusht-i-Kuh  and 
its  continuing  ranges,  which  for  five 
millennia  have  separated  Semitic  and 
Iranic  realms,  lie  to  the  north  of  the 
Euphrates  River  Valley,  and  nearly  join 
the  Armenian  Taurus,  which  closes  off 
Asia  Minor.  As  a  result,  while  the 
Arabian  Patesi  broke  into  this  linked 
region  in  the  fourth  millennium  before 
Christ,  the  Turkish  Bey  had  not  made 
his  appearance  south  of  the  northern 
more  defined  dike  until  the  close  of  the 
first  millennium  of  our  area,  unless  in- 


*  Concluded  from  the  July  number. 


292         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


deed  the  Hittites  were  the  early  precur- 
sors of  the  Turks.  These  successive  in- 
vasions of  this  region  found  there  the  ear- 
liest development  of  civilization.  This, 
in  its  turn,  was  probably  due  to  the  early 
existence  of  the  same  trade  which  has 
through  all  modern  history  bee.n  the 
foundation  of  commercial  prosperity  and 
maritime  empire. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  when  all  is 
known  it  will  be  found  that  the  reason 
why  the  Nile  and  Euphrates  early  figure 
with  settled  institutions  is  because  in 
these  river  valleys  the  slight  advantage 
given  by  the  opportunity  to  offer  protec- 
tion and  gain  tribute  from  the  trade  be- 
tween the  East  and  the  West  along  this 
connecting  region  enabled  ruler  and  city 
to  secure  their  primitive  advance  over 
other  river  valleys  not  less  well  situated 
in  climate  and  product,  but  lacking  the 
fertilizing  fruits  of  this  stream  of  trade. 
The  sacred  caravan  which  now  leaves 
Cairo  and  passes  along  the  Sinaitic  Pe- 
ninsula meets  the  Haj  from  Damascus 
in  the  north  and  defiles  southward  along 
the  earliest  of  these  trade  trails,  which 
goes  through  Mecca  and  ends  in  Yemen 
at  Aden.  The  reason  why  the  ancient 
sanctuary  of  the  Caaba  stands  at  Mecca 
is  because  the  city  is  threaded  on  this 
route.  The  development  of  Islam  itself 
accompanied  a  period  when  the  closing 
of  the  Red  Sea  route  and  the  interrup- 
tion of  trafic  across  Persia  forced  traders 
through  Arabia  and  led  to  the  attempt 
of  Justinian  to  secure  new  trade  con- 
nections with  China  north  of  the  Black 
Sea  by  way  of  the  chain  of  Nestorian 
mission  stations. 

When  from  any  cause  the  sea  routes 
are  interrupted  the  land  of  Arabia  flour- 
ishes and  Arabian  expansion  comes. 
But  the  more  ordinary  trade  routes  are 
those  which  pass  by  the  Red  Sea  or  by 
the  Persian  Gulf  by  diverging  caravan 
routes  northwardly  to  Trebizond  ;  next 
due  east  to  Antioch  ;  and  third,  more 
ancient,  by  Babylon,  Tadmor,  Damas- 
cus, to  the  Phoenician  cities. 


Along  one  or  the  other  of  these  rout 
like  beads  on  a  string  for  three  millenni 
before  Christ,  slipped  the  seats  of  rule 
over  this  tract  from  the  days  of  Luggul- 
Zaggizi,  always  following  more  or  less 
closely  the  shift  of  trade,  always  main- 
taining relationsdue  to  their  independent 
commercial  share  in  the  Mediterranean 
trade,  first  with  Sidon  and  then  with 
Tyre. 

The  relation  of  these  routes  to  the 
Mediterranean  becomes  instantly  ap- 
parent in  the  admirable  study  of  the 
physiographic  conditions  of  this  historic 
sea,  which  I  owe  to  Dr.  Daniel  C.  Oil- 
man. These  routes  both  finally  readied 
the  Mediterranean  at  different  points 
along  that  great  fissure  first  suggested 
by  Professor  Suess,  and  more  lately  dis- 
cussed by  Mr.  Gregory  in  his  lucid, 
illuminating,  and  instructive  work. 
What  might  be  called  the  germinal 
point  of  our  civilization  is  the  place  at 
which  this  great  rift,  the  largest  on  the 
earth's  surface,  meets  the  great  fold, 
also  the  largest  of  its  character,  which 
constitutes  the  backbone  of  the  Eurasian 
mass.  The  link  region  owes  most  of 
its  relations  to  the  circumstance  that  it 
falls  in  the  angle  between  the  junction 
of  these  two  great  physiographic  phe- 
nomena. The  north-and-south  uplift 
attending  this  rift,  which  began  far 
south  of  Lake  Tanganyika  and  ends  in 
Lebanon  (the  fish  of  their  streams  re- 
taining traces  of  their  earlier  connec- 
tion) creates  the  eastern  end  of  the 
Mediterranean,  just  as  the  Mediterra- 
nean, as  a  whole,  is  a  depression  on  the 
southern  side  of  the  great  Alpine  fold. 
Along  this  great  rift  were  developed, 
first  Judaism,  then  Christianity,  and 
last  Mohammedism,  three  world  relig- 
ions, of  wrhich  the  last  two  today  alone 
survive  among  all  earth's  faiths  with 
the  capacity  for  conversion  still  exist- 
ent.  To  the  north  of  the  end  of  this  rift 
lies  Asia  Minor,  itself  physiographically 
a  part  of  the  great  Asian  plain,  open- 
ing toward  it  like  a  funnel  between  the 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF   SOUTHWESTERN   ASIA 


293 


Trade  Routes  from  the  East  to  Egypt 
From  Gibbin's  History  of  Commerce  in  Europe 


mountain  ranges  already  noted,  the 
northern  dike,  and  the  lower  barrier  of 
the  Taurus.  Into  this  funnel  poured 
the  Hittite,  and  across  it  still  wander 
the  low  tents  of  the  Kizil-Bash,  kin  of 
scattered  Asian  hordes. 

From  the  very  opening  of  history 
Asia  Minor  has  always  been,  as  to  its 
interior,  Asian,  and  as  to  its  coasts, 
European.  When  Greek  history  opens, 
Greece  rims  Asia  Minor,  but  its  inte- 
rior is  full  of  strange  tongues,  faiths, 
and  gods.  Somewhere  at  its  mid-point 
along  the  Halys  the  two  tides  of  migra- 
tion, one  from  Europe  and  the  other 
from  Asia,  early  met,  for  through  all 
the  historic  period,  as  Mr.  W.  M.  Ram- 
say has  pointed  out,"  east  of  the  Halys 
the  Semitic  horror  of  the  pig  prevails, 
while  west  it  is  an  esteemed  purificatory 
sacrifice.  In  some  relation  with  this 
great  rift  valley,  the  trade  of  the  East 
has  always  flowed.  Wherever  it  im- 
pinges on  Europe,  economic  expansion 

11  W.  M.  Ramsay  :  The  Historical  Geography 
of  Asia  Minor,  1890,  p.  32. 


comes.  This  was  as  true  when  it  poured 
through  Venice  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury after  Christ  as  when  it  poured 
through  Ephesus  in  the  fourth  century 
before.  When  the  Suez  Canal  turned 
this  profit-giving  stream  onto  Salonica 
and  Trieste,  instantly  the  Hungarian 
plains  awoke  from  their  economic  leth- 
argy and  made  in  the  last  thirty  years  a 
material  advance  such  as  outstrips  that 
of  most  of  our  own  western  cities. 

In  its  early  stages  this  trade,  as  we 
have  pointed  out,  passed  from  Babylon 
to  Tyre  and  Sidon.  There  instantly 
f  olio  wed  the  expansion  of  Phoenicia, 
which  brought  on  a  long  struggle  be- 
tween Greece  and  Persia.  This,  in  the 
phase  to  which  Marathon,  Thermopylae, 
and  Plataea  direct  attention,  was  a  strug- 
gle for  the  conquest  of  Greece.  In  its 
wider  and  more  enduring  battle,  it  was 
in  a  truer  sense  a  wrestle  for  the  trade 
of  the  Mediterranean.  The  shock  of 
conflict  was  decisive,  not  on  land  but  at 
sea.  Themistocles  and  Aristides,  Gelon 
and  Theron  are  the  real  heroes,  and  the 


294        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


bays  of  Salamis  and  Himera  the  real 
scenes,  of  Greek  triumph.  Early  a  few 
Sidonian  colonies  had  been  scattered 
along  the  northern  shore  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. Wherever  these  seamen  landed 
they  left  some  mark  of  the  worship  of 
Astarte  and  of  the  strange  vice  of  a  sea- 
faring coast  to  corrupt  for  all  the  future 
the  space  wide-scattered  from  Corinth 
to  Massalia,  a  moral  stain  which  not 
the  flow  of  thirty  centuries  has  wholly 
effaced.  But  after  the  battles  in  which 
the  Phoenician,  rather  than  the  Persian, 
fleet  and  their  Carthaginian  ally  had 
been  defeated,  Phoenician  colonies  were 
'confined  to  the  southern  edge  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Neither  were  exclu- 
sive. The  earliest  of  Greek  colonies 
was  to  the  south,  at  Gyrene.11  In  like 
manner  the  earliest  of  Phoenician  colo- 
nies were  to  the  north.  But  the  drift 
of  both  was  along  opposite  banks  of  the 
Mediterranean.  It  is  only  at  some  point 
like  Sicily,  where  at  Girgenti  the  Tem- 
ple of  Theron,  and  at  Monreale  the 
Saracenic  cloisters  of  Frederick,  remind 
us  that  these  eddying  tides  of  Semitic 
and  Aryan  strife  have  left  their  early 
and  late  beach-marks  side  by  side. 

The  fashion  in  which  not  only  com- 
merce but  the  arts  spread  along  these 
routes  of  trade  is  best  illustrated  by  the 
diffusion  of  some  simple  article  like  the 
majolica  of  Chaldea  ;  its  early  examples 
have  just  been  recovered  by  the  German 
excavator  at  Hillah  ;  its  later  glories 
are  seen  in  the  Persian  archer  which 
M.  Dieulafoy  brought  to  the  Louvre 
from  Susa.  When  Chosroes  in  the  last 
expansion  of  the  Sassanidae  held  Rhodes, 
he  planted  there  a  colony  of  Persian 
potters.  From  them  came  Rhodian 
ware  ;  their  glaze  spread  through  the 
Mediterranean  ;  their  patterns  still  live 
in  the  potters  of  Brusa.  Of  their  cer- 

11  Establishments  et  Commerce  des  Pheni- 
ciens.  Lenormant  Francois  Atlas  D'Histoire 
Ancienne  De  L'Orient.  Planche  XX. 

Greek  Colonies.  Gibbin's  History  of  Com- 
merce in  Europe. 


amic  lineage  has  sprung  the  majolica 
of  Faenza  and  the  Mauresque  pottery  of 
Spain.  Over  the  Mediterranean  basin 
they  displaced  the  wares  and  the  gla/.e 
of  the  Greek  and  Roman  potter.  By 
the  hands  of  the  Huguenot  Palissy  they 
passed  from  southern  France  to  northern 
Kurope.  Of  their  family  is  the  entire- 
field  of  modern  glazed  wares,  distrib- 
uted along  lines  of  trade  from  Su>a  to 
Staffordshire. 

When  the  Persian  archer  was  pictured 
in  them  he  held  Asia  Minorandconquered 
Egypt  ;  he  closed  to  Greece  and  opened 
to  Phoenicia  the  route  of  the  Red  Sea. 
The  legendary  peace  of  Cimon  repre- 
sents the  commercial  fact  that  no  Phoe- 
nician vessel  passed  in  to  the  JEgean, 
and  no  Greek  vessel  could  safely  go 
south  of  Crete.  Towns  like  Ephesus 
grew  and  flourished  and  carved  the  great 
sculptured  drums  which  stand  in  the 
Louvre  and  in  the  British  Museum, under 
the  stimulus  of  a  trade  which  could  only 
reach  Greece  by  the  Persian  land  routes 
and  dubious  relations.  The  Greek 
trader  left  these  routes,  and  again,  as 
ten  centuries  later  under  Justinian, 
Greek  trade  sought  a  route  above  the 
Black  Sea,  and  the  Greek  colonies  of 
Euxine  had  their  brief  period  of  bloom 
prior  to  Alexander. 

When  the  expansion  of  Greece  came 
under  Alexander,  the  linked  area  which 
we  are  considering  had  been  for  nearly 
two  centuries  under  the  control  of  th< 
Persian  Empire.  The  organized  nil 
which  had  established  itself  early  in  th 
Nile  and  still  more  in  the  Euphrates 
Valley,  as  important  for  trade  routes  as 
they  were  for  the  fertility  and  security 
which  they  offered  for  agriculture  and 
the  basis  they  furnished  for  the  develop- 
ment of  trade,  had  in  both  cases  been 
expanded  beyond  its  original  area.  In 
the  case  of  the  eastern  valley  it  had  been 
replaced  first  by  successive  waves  of 
invasion  from  the  plains  to  the  south, 
from  the  days  of  Hammurabi  certainly 
and  probably  earlier,  and  next  by  the 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF   SOUTHWESTERN   ASIA       295 


Assyrian  rule,  with  its  steady  commer- 
cial policy,  its  continuous  extension 
along  trade  routes  which  stretch  to  the 
westward,  the  more  northern  toward 
Antioch  and  the  gates  of  Syria,  the 
more  southern  to  the  Phoenician  cities — 
always  extending  along  these  lines  by 
annexation  and  by  treaties  manifestly 
intended  to  control  trade.  All  these 
early  areas  had  been  engulfed  by  the 
Persian  realm,  which,  as  was  later  to  be 
repeated  under  the  Abasside  Caliphate, 
held  all  the  channels  of  trade,  the  south- 
ern by  sea  and  land  on  either  side  of  the 
Arabian  Peninsula,  the  great  mountain 
routes  which  descend  from  Balkh  or 
from  Cabul,  and  the  lesser  lines  of  travel 
which  reach  the  Persian  plateau.  Open 
to  trade  and  travel  as  these  were,  the 
Phoenician  exclusion  had  turned  the 
steady  stream  of  Greek  traders  toward 
the  Bactrian  routes  and  those  which 
reached  the  Indus  across  the  higher 
passes  of  Asia.  The  direct  routes  were 
impeded.  The  commerce  which  in  the 
second  and  the  first  half  of  the  first  mil- 
lennium before  Christ  had  made  Nau- 
cratis  and  the  other  Greek  settlements  in 
Egypt  centers  of  a  trade  which  fed  the 
obsidian  works  of  Delos  and  enriched 
the  buildings  of  the  Peloponnesus  with 
the  work  of  Kgypt  and  Phoenicia  was 
closed.  The  Greek  trader  wTas  present 
only  by  sufferance  on  the  caravan  routes 
of  Mesopotamia.  Nothing  so  proves 
the  extent  to  which  this  trade  was  di- 
verted to  another  channel  as  the  wealth 
of  gold  ornaments  which  the  spade  is 
perpetually  turning  up,  all  made  within 
a  comparatively  narrow  period,  in  the 
brief  existence  of  Greek  colonies  in  the 
Tauric  Chersonese  and  the  adjacent 
mainland.  When  in  his  easternmost 
campaign  Alexander  was  moving  with 
the  skill  and  certainty  of  a  man  maneu- 
vering and  marching  in  an  accustomed 
region,  it  was  undoubtedly  because  his 
army  was  thick  scattered  with  Greeks 
who  in  trading  expeditions  had  threaded 
all  the  defiles  which  enter  Bactria  to 


the  north  or  debouch  upon  the  valley  of 
the  Indus. 

His  campaigns  throughout  are  marked 
by  that  intelligent  and  instinctive  knowl- 
edge of  physiographic  conditions  which 
marks  the  great  commander  and  sets 
him  apart  from  the  mere  winner  of  in- 
dividual battles  or.  the  mere  leader  of 
a  charge.  It  was  because  Alexander 
added  this  power  to  those  other  two, 
both  of  which  he  had  as  only  a  few  men 
haye  ever  possessed  them,  that  he  stands 
alone  in  all  the  surge  of  conquest  which 
has  ebbed  and  flowed  over  the  narrow 
region  which  joins  the  east  to  the  west. 
He  began  by  winning  at  the  Granicus, 
the  entrance  to  eastern  Asia  Minor, 
wasting  no  time  upon  its  internal  con- 
quest, an  error  from  which  Caesar  later 
was  not  wholly  free,  or  his  work  would 
not  have  been  so  soon  undone.  He 
struck  straight  for  the  heads  of  the 
great  trade  routes,  passed  around  Asia 
Minor,  fought  his  great  battle  at  the 
very  point  where,  as  has  already  been 
indicated,  the  great  rift  of  the  south 
meets  the  rounding  curve  of  the  out- 
work of  the  great  system  of  mountains 
which  divide  into  two  great  channels 
the  course  of  Eurasian  history  north 
and  south,  halted  only  for  two  great 
sieges — one  of  Tyre,  where  he  redressed 
the  long  exclusion  of  generations  from 
the  trade  of  the  Levant,  and  the  other 
of  Gaza,  which  owed  all  its  importance, 
its  garrison,  and  doubtless  the  selection 
of  a  commander  of  the  ability  of  Batis 
to  its  position  at  the  head  of  the  trade 
routes  through  the  passes  of  Arabia 
Petra.  Holding  the  ends  of  the  land 
routes,  he  turned  aside,  and  founding 
Alexandria,  established  the  supremacy 
of  the  Greek  trader  for  nearly  five  cen- 
turies over  the  Red  Sea.  Alone  of  all 
men  who  have  struggled  for  this  region, 
Alexander  seems  to  have  divined  that 
his  work  could  not  be  complete  until  he 
had  pushed  his  boundaries  to  the  em- 
treme  limit  of  the  physiographic  terri- 
tory which  we  are  considering.  His 


296 


THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


eastward  march,  the  Aryan  at  last  on 
the  bridge,  carried  for  the  first  and  only 
time  in  history  the  supremacy  of  Euro- 
pean ideas  and  organization  over  the 
entire  space  which  constitutes  the  inev- 
itable link  between  the  three  groups  of 
population  which,  from  the  nature  of 
things,  constitute  the  three  great  hives 
of  the  human  race  in  the  Eastern  World. 
The  far-flung  line  of  Greek  cities  which 
he  left  starred  the  whole  region  with 
spots  and  dots  of  enlightenment,  free 
colonies  extending  to  the  Indus  and  the 
Oxus.  So  completely  has  this  perished 
and  left  no  trace  that  it  is  not  easy  for 
us  to  realize  that  for  over  a  century  and 
a  half  Greek  coins  were  being  struck  in 
Bactria,  that  Buddhist  sculpture  re- 
ceived a  form  and  comeliness  which  has 
never  left  it  and  which  places  it  alone 
among  the  bizarre  modeling  of  the  East. 
It  is  as  difficult  for  us  to  understand 
that  for  three  centuries  a  great  Greek 
city  like  Seleucia,  with  its  own  assem- 
bly and  council,  its  agora,  and  its  Boule, 
maintained  itself  on  the  Tigris.  There 
is  something  invincibly  pathetic  in  the 
disappearance  of  these  cities  one  by  one 
like  guttering  candles.  Their  glory, 

Like  the  shooting  star, 
Fell  to  base  earth  from  the  firmament. 

These  Greek  cities  had  no  land  or 
rural  cultivators  about  them.  In  the 
ancient  city  the  death  rate  was  steadily 
higher  than  the  birth  rate.  As  fresh 
supplies  of  Greeks  ceased,  it  was  a  mere 
question  of  brief  generations  when  the 
Greek  lines  were  extinct  and  the  effort 
to  hold  this  tract  for  civilization  faded 
and  was  lost  first  in  the  Arabian  and 
then  the  Tatar  migration. 

ROME  AND  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE 

The  successor  of  Greece,  Rome,  was 
a  sea  power.  Its  first  treaty  was  a  com- 
mercial compact  with  Carthage.  Its 
conflict  with  that  maritime  power  was 
really  a  struggle  for  the  basin  of  the 


Mediterranean.  In  its  zenith  the-  R< 
man  Empire  was  a  rim  of  land  about  tin 
Mediterranean,  with  an  outlying  region 
like  South  Britain,  but  limited  always  in 
the  full  exerciseof  its  power  by  its  com- 
mand of  the  great  sea.  When  Augustus 
fixed  the  policy  of  the  Roman  State  he 
adopted  a  new  practice  in  regard  to  these 
great  trade  routes,  which  were  the  ar- 
teries or  connecting  ligaments  between 
the  East  and  the  West.  They  were  no 
longer  left  wholly  in  Asiatic  hands ; 
neither  was  the  effort  made  to  hold  them 
from  end  to  end.  An  expedition  of 
Augustus  seized  Aden,  but  left  it.  The 
police  of  the  Red  Sea  was  maintained, 
but  the  effort  was  not  carried  farther,  so 
as  to  hold  its  entrance,  and  trade  from 
south  Arabia  to  Zanzibar  was  allowed 
to  grow.  The  Persian  frontier  was  ex- 
panded so  as  to  grip  Palmyra  became  it 
was  the  end  of  one  caravan  route.  Its 
great  colonnades  in  the  desert  marked 
the  wealth  of  this  outpost.  The  carved 
Roman  fronts  of  Arabia  Petraea,  a  tract 
always  held  by  a  strong  imperial  garri- 
son, was  the  head  of  another  route.  Later 
Dara  was  the  fortified  fort  and-  outpost 
which  protected  the  heads  of  the  di- 
vergent caravan  roads  which  came  up 
the  Mesopotamia!!  plain  and  then  sepa- 
rated. Here,  as  along  the  line  of  the 
Rhine  and  Danube  or  the  southern  edge 
of  north  Africa,  strategic  points  were 
held,  but  no  effort  was  made  to  expand 
beyond  them  until  the  period  between 
Trajan  and  Heraclius. 

When  this  advance  came  the  Arab 
expansion  was  near.  It  had  been  pre- 
ceded by  causes  which  prepared  the  way. 
Augustus'  policy  of  holding  the  heads 
of  the  trade  routes,  instead,  as  under 
Alexander's  far-sighted  plan,  of  garri- 
soning the  routes  themselves  with  a  long 
line  of  Greek  cities  and  settlements, 
divided  the  springs  and  sources  of  con- 
trol over  a  region  whose  free  transit  was 
indispensable  to  the  health  of  each  mem- 
ber of  the  human  race  whose  trade  it 
carried.  The  Roman  fringe  from  Tra>- 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF    SOUTHWESTERN   ASIA       297 


pezus,  Erzerum  ( Arx  Romana)  to  Alex- 
andria, through  Antioch  and  Palmyra 
to  the  carved  canons  of  Petraea,  grew  in 
splendor  and  in  wealth.  As  long  as  the 
Parthian  policy  left  Seleucia  and  her 
sister  Greek  cities  in  touch,  the  trade 
around  the  Arabian  peninsula  was  un- 
vexed  by  the  Arabic  dhow.  The  Greek 
trader  was  in  all  the  waters  about  Arabia. 
These  conditions  disappeared  under  the 
more  rigorous  administration  of  the 
Sassanidse,  and  the  Greek  cities  with- 
ered. The  Arab  expansion  into  Abys- 
sinia, possible  under  the  policy  of  Au- 
gustus, an  expansion  which  so  narrowly 
transferred  the  birth  of  Islam  from 
Mecca  to  this  mountain  plateau,  was 
accompanied  by  the  spread  of  Arabian 
commerce  around  Asia.  A  century  later 
the  Chinese  junk  was  a  frequent  visitor 
in  the  Euphrates,  and  the  hongs  of 
Arabian  merchants  at  Canton  preceded 
by  i  ,000  years  the  like  and  later  estab- 
lishments of  north  Europe.  The  trade 
of  the  Red  Sea  was  replaced,  as  it  had 
been  preceded,  by  cargoes  debarked  at 
Aden  and  following  the  northern  routes 
which  passed  through  Mecca,  and  whose 
farther  journey  Mohammed  more  than 
once  shared. 

Whenever  from  any  cause  the  Red 
Sea  became  closed,  or  when,  early,  the 
vessel  of  the  day  was  incapable  of  the 
long  trip  around  the  Arabian  peninsula, 
then  always  as  in  Himaryitic  and  earlier 
days,  southern  Arabia  becomes  an  or- 
ganized monarchy  because  enjoying  the 
revenue  of  this  trade.  The  line  of 
sparse  settlements  which  follows  the  ex- 
tinct volcanic  heights  of  the  great  Rift 
along  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Red  Sea 
springs  into  an  activity  which  in  the 
seventh  century  burst  forth  in  the  ex- 
plosion of  Islam.  The  outlines  of  this 
outburst  are  familiar.  Under  it  this 
entire  region,  with  the  exception  of  Asia 
Minor,  was  in  the  hands  of  a  rule  cen- 
tered on  the  Tigris,  as  ten  centuries  be- 
fore at  Nineveh  or  Babylon  ;  but  since 
the  Mediterranean  outposts  were  no 


longer,  as  for  ten  centuries  past,  under 
alien  hands,  Greek  or  Roman,  the 
Caliphate  exceeded  in  power  and  in 
splendor  the  two  Asiatic  rules  which, 
without  this  aid  and  vantage,  had  pre- 
ceded it  in  the  same  valley. 

One  fatal  change,  however,  came. 
This  inroad  from  the  southern  plain 
swept  across  the  dividing  line  of  moun- 
tains in  north  Persia  and  pushed  what, 
remembering  its  results,  may  fairly  be 
called  a  sluice  into  Tatary.  The  prov- 
ince which  stretched  down  the  Oxus, 
Ma-wara-1-nahr,  made  the  first  open 
communication  between  the  great  plain 
to  the  north  and  the  valleys  and  plateau 
to  the  south.  Under  the  Samanids  it 
felt  Persian  civilization,  Arab  learning, 
and  Moslem  faith.  There  begun  that 
steady  migration,  first  of  Turkish  slaves 
to  the  court  of  Baghdad  and  later  of  the 
Tatar  horde,  until  there  burst  forth  all 

The  black  Tatar  tents  which  stood 
Clustering  like  beehives  on  the  low,  flat  strand 
Of  Oxus,  where  the  summer  floods  o'erflow 
When  the  sun  melts  the  snow  in  high  Pamir. 

The  results  of  these  successive  inva- 
sions, Seljuk,  Turk,  Tatar,  or  Mongol, 
in  all  its  hideous  forms,  spread  terror, 
desolation,  and  lasting  death  and  decay 
from  the  Pacific  to  the  Mediterranean. 
It  broke  all  the  channels  of  trade,  inter- 
rupted the  connected  development  be- 
tween the  East  and  the  West,  which  had 
been  slowly  developing  through  nearly 
four  millennia,  and  played  no  small  share 
in  causing  the  arrest  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean basin,  which  had  for  nearly  seven 
centuries  but  the  fitful  light  of  a  dying 
civilization  in  which  a  new  faith  was 
making  its  way,  ducente  deo,flammam 
inter  ct  kostes. 

Its  growth  led  to  an  attempt  in  the 
crusades  to  stay  the  joint  progress  of 
Arab  and  Seljuk,  for  the  men  of  the 
flatlands  south  and  north  had  both  over- 
spread the  region  between.  Meanwhile 
the  currents  of  trade  were  moving  again 
to  the  north  of  the  Black  Sea,  southern 


298 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


routes  being  closed,  and  this  trade  was 
doing  its  share  to  awake  into  conscious- 
ness the  vast  inert  mass  of  wandering 
men  in  the  northern  Asian  Plain  with 
results  later  apparent.  The  only  fruit 
of  the  shock  between  the  East  and  the 
West  from  Nicaea  to  Edessa.from  Edessa 
to  Montroyal,  was  to  leave  no  one  east- 
ern power  equal  to  the  eruption  of  the 
Mongol  swarm  when  it  burst  on  the 
world  just  after  the  close  of  the  crusades. 
These  hordes  from  the  north  had  poured 
through  the  open  gate  which  the  exten- 
sion of  the  provinces  of  the  Caliphate 
into  Transoxiana  had  provided.  First 
the  Turkoman  of  the  Oxus  came,  later 
Chingiz'  Mongols,  in  the  center  of  the 
Northern  Plain,  and  last  the  more  civ- 
ilized organization  of  Timur.  From 
Novgorod  to  Pekin,  over  the  entire 
stretch  of  the  Great  Plain  in  which  the 
Urals  are  so  small  an  interruption ;  from 
Siberia  to  India,  their  descendants  ruled. 
Their  only  check  came  in  the  Ayyubid 
dynasty,  founded  by  Saladin,  which  the 
crusades  had  consolidated,  and  which 
held  the  ends  of  the  trade  routes  that 
found  their  way  up  the  Red  Sea  and 
across  the  caravan  routes  to  the  ports 
of  Syria.  In  all  the  annals  of  the 
relations  of  this  region,  for  the  first 
time  the  Asian  swarms  closed  all  the 
traffic  by  land.  The  route  north  of  the 
Black  Sea,  which  had  so  often  been 
opened  when  all  others  were  shut, 
was  in  their  hands.  The  lines  which 
passed  across  Persia  were  blocked  by 
all  the  internecine  feuds  whose  rapine 
darkens  the  Quatrains  of  Omar.  In- 
stantly a  new  relation  was  established. 
The  real  close  of  the  crusades  is  the 
treaty  between  Venice  and  an  Ayyubid 
Sultan  of  Egypt,  Adil,  1208,  by  which 
the  city  of  the  Adriatic  obtained  a 
monopoly  of  the  trade  of  the  East. 
Straightway  there  arose  in  Cairo  and 
every  Italian  city  those  buildings,  the 
mosques  and  tombs  of  Ayyubid  and 
Mameluke  sultans,  and  the  churches  of 
the  later  Romanesque  and  earlier  re- 


naissance. In  every  age,  wherever 
the  opportunity  of  levying  toll  upon 
this  traffic  between  the  East  and  the 
West  comes,  there  also  buildings  rise 
and  a  new  architecture  is  born — from 
the  Ziggurats  of  Babylonia  to  the  dome 
of  St.  Paul's,  itself  the  first  fruits  of 
that  growing  trade  which  marked  Eng- 
land's appearance  in  the  East.  Through 
nearly  two  centuries  of  the  free-flowing 
profit  of  Italy,  the  narrow  duct  through 
which  flowed  the  trade  of  the  East,  was 
the  open  way  kept  by  the  independent 
government  of  Egypt  in  close  commu- 
nication with  the  small  republics  of  the 
peninsula.  When  the  Othman  Sultan, 
Selim,  in  1517,  swept  over  Egypt  the 
last  shred  of  the  passageway  which  na- 
ture has  provided  between  the  Asian 
and  the  European  centers  of  population 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  represent- 
atives of  the  northern  flood  which  had 
first  burst  forth  when  Hulaku  ended 
the  civil  power  of  the  Abasside  five  cen- 
turies before.  The  flask  of  pepper  in- 
stantly arose  from  six  to  eightfold  in  the 
markets  of  Europe.  Sugar  increased 
in  proportion.  The  trade  of  the  Italian 
cities  was  ruined.  The  trade  routes  along 
wrhich  the  cities  of  central  Europe  had 
grown  were  swept  with  bankruptcy. 
There  succeeded  an  economic  convul- 
sion such  as  always  accompanies  ever 
shift  in  the  channel  of  this  great  trade 
which  had  no  small  share  in  precipitat- 
ing the  Reformation,  acting  not  so 
much  as  cause  as  furnishing  the  occa- 
sion for  the  sudden  appearance  of  a 
growing  ferment. 

First  Portugal  and  then  northern  Eu- 
rope, since  all  paths  across  the  bridge 
were  at  last  held  and  closed,  began  their 
attempts  to  find  a  way  around  the  con- 
tinent of  Africa.  Out  of  this  attempt 
grew  the  voyage  of  Columbus.  Through 
successive  maritime  discoveries  the 
northern  half  of  Europe  made  its  con- 
nection with  the  Asiatic  centers  b\ 
instead  of  by  land,  and  there  came  that 
fission  in  faith,  in  trade,  and  in  devel- 


LINK    RELATIONS   OF   SOUTHWESTERN    ASIA 


299 


opment  between  Teuton  and  L/atin  Eu- 
rope which  has  so  powerfully  influenced 
modern  history,  one  half  having  and  the 
other  lacking  a  direct  route  to  the  East. 
Asia  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  men 
of  the  Northern  Plain  ;  Ming  and  Man- 
chu  dynasties  rose  at  Pekin,  and  the 
Turk  sits  on  the  throne  of  the  Eastern 
Caesars.  The  descendants  of  Timur 
ruled  in  India  until  the  English  Raj, 
itself  a  product  of  the  maritime  move- 
ment which  the  control  by  the  Tatar 
over  the  natural  connecting  link  between 
India  and  Europe  made  necessary.  If 
I  were  to  select  the  one  object  in  human 
history  which  sums  and  typifies  this 
great  march  of  events  in  the  long  defiles 
formed  by  nature  creating  and  guiding 
its  course,  it  would  be  those  shivered 
fragments  once  the  serpent's  seat  of  the 
Pythian  oracle  at  Delphi — the  spoil  of 
the  Persian  when  he  first  made  Asian 
the  coast  of  the  ^Egean,  won  by  the 
Greek  at  Platsea,  for  seven  centuries 
the  seat  of  prophecy,  and  when  "Apollo 
from  his  shrine  can  no  more  divine," 
transferred  by  Constantine  to  his  new 
capital,  at  last  the  trophy  of  the  Turk 


when  the  last  of  the  Constantines  fell  in 
the  breach  broken  by  the  mace  of  the 
conqueror  as  he  rode  into  the  Hippo- 
drome. 

Not  until  the  Russian  railroad  crossed 
the  plain  east  of  the  Caspian  and  ex- 
tended itself  to  the  Pacific  had  civiliza- 
tion its  full  revenge  and  established 
across  the  plain,  whose  folk  had  so  long 
closed  the  connection  between  the  East 
and  the  West,  another  sure  pathway. 
With  it  the  history  of  this  central  re- 
gion enters  on  a  new  chapter  and  be- 
comes secondary  in  its  relations.  Todaj" 
it  only  plays  its  part  in  that  wider  duel 
extending  over  civilization  between  the 
approach  to  the  eastern  centers  of  pop- 
ulation of  the  Russian  railroad  and  the 
English  steamer,  the  division  of  Asia 
between  Slav  and  Briton.  But  through 
all  its  history  the  same  continuous 
thread  has  run,  which  has  made  it  the 
connecting  link  between  the  three  great 
groups  of  population  in  the  Eurasian 
mass,  and,  beyond  any  other  of  earth's 
tracts,  it  has  had  as  its  share  and  part 

Res  gestse  reguni  ducumque  et  tristia  bella. 


The  Roman  Empire 
From  "  Europe,"  by  Elisse  Redus 


THE   OLD    POST-ROAD   FROM    TIFLIS   TO 

ERIVAN 

BY   ESTHER   LANCRAFT   HOVEY 


THREE  hours  by  rail  east  of  Tiflis, 
in  Transcaucasia,  lies  the  little 
hamlet  of  Akstafa,  which  has 
been  the  northern  terminus  of  the  post- 
road  to  Persia  by  way  of  Erivan  since  the 
completion  of  the  Transcaucasian  Rail- 
way. It  is  a  wretched  village,  and  what 
little  importance  it  has  enjoyed  for  some 
years  will  soon  disappear,  since  it  is  far 
away  from  the  line  of  the  railway  which 
the  Russian  government  is  about  to  open 
from  Tiflis  to  Kars,  one  link  of  the  great 
chain  which  is  to  stretch  through  Erivan 
to  Tabriz  and  the  Persian  Gulf.  The 
advent  of  the  railway  will  render  easily 
accessible  a  picturesque  and  interesting 
region  which  is  now  rarely  visited  by 
tourists,  and  will  eventually  make  fa- 
miliar to  many  the  marvelous  beauty 
of  the  Mountains  of  Ararat. 

Our  party  for  the  journey  across 
Russian  Armenia  consisted  of  several 
members  of  the  great  International 
Geological  Congress  which  met  in  St. 
Petersburg  in  1897.  We  gathered  at 
Akstafa  early  one  beautiful  morning 
late  in  September  to  begin  our  long 
ride  southward  to  Mt.  Ararat,  our  ob- 
jective point.  When  we  finally  sallied 
forth  from  the  post-station  our  caravan 
consisted  of  tour  comfortless  carriages 
and  a  baggage  wagon,  under  the  protec- 
tion of  a  military  guard  of  six  Cossacks 
in  full  equipment.  We  had  been  warned 
that  traveling  in  this  part  of  the  world 
was  dangerous,  and  we  could  well  be- 
lieve it  when  we  saw  the  armament  of 
these  men.  In  addition  to  the  regula- 
tion rifle,  short  sword,  and  ornamental 
powder  pockets,  they  wore  belts  fitted 
with  ball  cartridges  and  two  or  three 
extra  revolvers  in  the  most  convenient 


places  for  instant  use.  The  most  con- 
spicuous part  of  their  dress  was  the 
bask-kil,  which  is  a  simple  hood  made 
of  scarlet  cloth,  with  long  streamers. 
This  was  usually  worn  with  the  stream- 
ers crossed  over  the  breast  and  tied  at  the 
back,  the  hood  hanging  on  the  shoul- 
ders. The  bash-kil  is  a  very  useful 
article  of  dress  in  a  climate  subject  to  the 
sudden  extremes  which  occur  in  Arme- 
nia and  the  Transcaucasian  Mountains. 
After  sundown  the  hood  is  drawn  over 
the  head  beneath  the  fur  cap,  while  the 
streamers  are  wrapped  around  the  throat 
to  keep  out  the  sharp  winds. 

The  Cossacks  form  a  kind  of  semi- 
volunteer  military  organization,  their 
services  exempting  them  from  certain 
items  of  taxation.  The  governor  of  the 
district  is  obliged  to  furnish  a  Cossack 
guard  to  travelers  demanding  protec- 
tion, and  this  guard  is  supposed  to  serve 
gratuitously,  but  we  noticed  that  when 
we  changed  guards,  which  took  place 
about  once  in  two  hours,  our  leader 
handed  the  head  man  of  the  band  a 
handsome  fee.  The  changing  of  the 
guard  was  always  accompanied  by  much 
saluting  and  some  maneuvering. 

For  several  miles  our  ride  across  the 
plain  was  dusty  and  uninteresting,  ex- 
cept for  the  exhibition  of  fine  riding 
given  us  by  our  Cossacks,  who  looked 
very  picturesque  with  the  streamers  of 
their  bash-kils  floating  in  the  wind. 
From  time  to  time  we  met  strange  vehi- 
cles, and  as  we  began  to  enter  the  moun- 
tains, following  the  valley  of  the  Akstafa 
River,  we  encountered  villainous-look- 
ing gypsies  who  had  to  be  beaten  away 
from  our  carriages  by  the  guards,  so  per- 
sistent were  they  in  their  demands  for 


OLD    POST-ROAD    FROM    TIFLIS   TO    ERIVAN       301 


Our  Guard  of  Mounted  Cossacks 


money.  Nor  did  the  tales  related  to  us 
of  recent  exploits  of  brigands  along  this 
road  lead  us  to  regard  these  gypsies  with 
very  high  favor. 

We  had  entered  the  home  of  the  Ori- 
ental rug — in  fact,  we  were  on  the  bor- 
ders of  the  Carabagh  country — and  we 
soon  began  to  understand  the  process  of 
making  them  ' '  antique. ' '  Beautiful 
rugs  are  used  in  fastening  loads  on  to 
camels  and  donkeys,  leaky  roofs  are 
mended  with  them,  and  people  use  them 
in  place  of  chairs  or  beds  in  the  houses, 
•on  the  streets,  and  while  on  a  journey. 
At  Caravan-Sarai,  in  the  Anti-Caucasus 
Mountains,  we  espied  an  especially 
pretty  one  on  a  bench,  and  asked  the 
man  who  was  sitting  on  it  how  much  he 
would  take  for  it.  Twenty  roubles  ($i  i ) 
was  his  price.  On  general  principles  we 
offered  him  ten,  but  he  shook  his  head. 
His  neighbors  at  once  perceived  a  chance 
for  a  trade  and  flocked  around  us,  each 


one  offering  his  rug  for  sale  and  des- 
canting upon  its  merits — at  least,  we 
took  for  granted  that  that  wras  what 
they  were  doing,  for  we  could  under- 
stand scarcely  a  word  of  what  was  said. 
Indifference  is  the  price  of  success  in 
this  kind  of  bargaining,  and  we  walked 
through  the  village  apparently  paying 
little  attention  to  the  numerous  rugs 
held  out  to  our  view7.  The  first  man, 
who  had  the  rug  we  \vanted,  kept  fol- 
lowing us  in  the  crowd,  deducting  a 
rouble  every  time  we  made  a  move  to 
look  at  an  attractive  rug,  but  our  invari- 
able reply  to  him  was  ' '  Desyat  roubli ' ' 
(ten  roubles).  Not  until  we  started  for 
our  carriage  did  the  other  people  despair 
of  selling  us  anything,  and  then  they  all 
turned  upon  number  one,  urging  him  to 
accept  our  offer.  It  was  funny  to  watch 
the  men,  for  they  are  so  excitable  and 
use  gestures  to  such  an  extent  that  one 
can  almost  understand  them  by  these 


302         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


alone.  At  last  our  man  came  forward 
with  his  rug,  asking  piteously  for  twelve 
roubles,  and  we  compromised  on  eleven. 
His  sharp  Armenian  instinct  served  him 
well  at  the  last,  however,  for  he  sug- 
gested so  ingenuously  that  the  boy  who 
rolled  up  the  rug  ought  to  have  twenty 
kopecks  (eleven  cents)  for  his  services 
that  we  could  not  resist  the  appeal. 

Late  in  the  evening  of  the  first  day 
we  arrived  at  Delijan,  a  picturesque  lit- 
tle village  at  the  foot  of  the  pass  of  the 
same  name,  and  as  we  looked  across  the 
Akstafa  Valley  we  could  see  what  most 
of  the  United  States  contingent  of  our 
party  had  never  seen  before- — the  lights 
of  a  large  camp  of  soldiers  who  were  in 
active  service.  Delijan  is  the  military 
headquarters  of  a  district.  The  princi- 
pal house  of  the  village  was  thrown 
open  for  our  accommodation,  and  we 
were  settled  for  the  night  on  beds  and 
benches  and  on  mattresses  placed  on  the 


floor  in  the  house  and  in  the  barn.  Tl 
seven  ladies  of  our  party  were  put  int 
the  best  room,  which  was  so  small  that 
some  of  them  had  to  retire  before  all  the 
beds  could  be  put  into  place.  A  fifty  - 
mile  drive  in  the  mountains  is  apt  to 
produce  sleep  under  any  circumstances, 
even  if  there  are  seven  people  in  one 
small  room  and  two  of  the  beds  tall  to 
the  floor  during  the  night,  and  one-  of 
the  occupants  of  the  room  has  such  a 
severe  cold  that  her  breathing  sounds 
like  the  exhaust  of  a  steam-engine  and 
another  has  the  nightmare  ! 

Three  o'clock  in  the  morning  came 
all  too  soon,  but  we  had  to  arise  to  con- 
tinue our  journey.  It  was  bitterly  cold 
and  many  of  us  performed  our  toilets 
with  as  little  ceremony  and  delay  a> 
possible,  but  others  showed  the  influ- 
ence of  long  and  stylish  habits.  I  saw 
one  gentleman  of  the  party,  a  noted 
English  geologist,  out  on  the  porch 


The  Mountains  Looking  Northeastward  from  the  Pass  of  Delijan 


OLD    POST-ROAD    FROM    TIFLIS   TO    ERIVAN       303 


, 


The  Village  of  Semenovka 


kneeling  before  a  chair  on  which  he  had 
set  a  glass  of  cold  water  and  a  pocket 
mirror,  shaving  himself  by  the  light  of 
a  coiled  taper.  The  job  was  so  well 
done,  however,  that  it  was  evident  that 
he  had  shaved  under  difficulties  before. 
Later,  when  we  were  in  the  hot,  arid 
country  where  water  is  so  scarce,.  I 
learned  that  a  half  cup  of  water  could 
serve  for  the  toilet  purposes  of  this 
same  gentleman  and  his  wife .  and  still 
furnish  him  enough  for  his  shave. 

By  sunrise  we  had  had  our  breakfast 
and  were  on  our  way  up  the  pass.  As 
we  climbed  higher  the  view  became 
wilder  and  more  extended.  At  one  time 
we  could  see  ten  zig-zags  in  our  road 
below  us,  while  above  and  around  were 
snow-capped  peaks  and  grassy  slopes, 
on  which  the  light  of  the  rising  sun  gave 
effects  which  well-repaid  us  for  the  exer- 
tion of  an  early  start.  At  the  summit 
of  the  pass  there  is  a  great  change  in 


the  character  of  the  scenery,  and  as  we 
looked  toward  the  south,  instead  of  the 
heavily  wooded  and  grass-covered  slopes 
through  which  we  had  been  coming, 
stretched  out  before  us  we  saw  the  great 
Armenian  plateau,  above  which  rises  the 
barren  cone  of  many  an  extinct  volcano. 
For  some  miles  our  route  lay  along  the 
shores  of  L/ake  Goktchii,  a  beautiful 
sheet  of  water  53  miles  long  by  23  miles 
wide,  the  surface  of  which  is  700  feet 
above  the  top  of  Mount  Washington. 
The  region  is  inhabited  by  the  adherents 
of  several  religious  sects.  From  this 
region  come  a  portion  of  the  Dukho- 
bortsi,  of  whom  so  much  has  been  said 
of  late  years  because  of  their  emigration 
to  British  Columbia  rather  than  give  up 
their  religious  tenets,  which  forbid  their 
bearing  arms  for  any  reason.  The  fol- 
lowers of  another  sect  subsist  entirely 
upon  milk  during  Lent.  We  stopped  at 
the  little  village  of  Jelenovka,  on  the 


304        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


shores  of  the  lake,  and  were  entertained 
at  dinner  by  the  Molokani,  as  the  mem- 
bers of  one  of  these  sects  are  called. 
Our  repast  was  quite  elaborate  for  that 
part  of  the  country.  It  consisted  of 
soup  made  from  corned  beef  and  cab- 
bage, all  being  served  in  one  dish,  with 
whipped  sour  cream  as  a  sauce  ;  fresh 
trout  from  the  lake,  and  boiled  chicken. 
The  last  would  have  been  very  delicious 
had  it  not  been  for  the  sauce  of  sour 
cream  and  horseradish,  which  gave  it  a 
flavor  which  none  but  the  educated  taste 
could  appreciate.  One  of  the  desserts 
consisted  of  watermelon,  muskmelon, 
and  pears  cut  into  small  pieces,  mixed 
with  grapes  and  plums,  covered  with  a 
hot  syrup  and  served  in  hollowed-out 
segments  of  melon  rind.  Grapes  and 
melons  grow  to  perfection  in  the  irri- 
gated fields  on  the  Armenian  plateau. 

While  passing  through  the  village  I 
had  stopped  to  look  at  a  very  cunning 
baby,  but  what  was  my  surprise  during 


dinner  to  be  told  that  I  was  wanted 
some  peasants  in  the  front  yard.  Thei 
I  found  lined  up  before  the  door,  und« 
the  generalship  of  the  mother  of  the 
baby  I  had  admired,  several  women 
dressed  in  their  best  Sunday  clothes,  and 
each  one  with  a  highly  polished  and  care- 
fully dressed  babe  in  her  arm.  Never 
having  attended  a  baby  show,  I  can 
safely  say  that  this  was  the  proudest  set 
of  women  I  had  ever  seen,  rnt'ortu- 
nately  these  people  are  very  supersti- 
tious, fastening  blue  beads  not  only  upon 
their  children,  but  also  upon  their  ani- 
mals, to  ward  off  the  evil  eye.  They 
were  afraid  of  my  camera,  and  departed 
hurriedly  when  they  saw  it  pointed  their 
way,  only  three  succeeding  in  making 
politeness  overcome  fear. 

For  many  miles  after  leaving  the  lake 
there  was  not  a  tree  or  a  shrub  to  break 
the  monotony  of  the  scene  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach.  The  plain  is  a  dreary 
waste  of  ancient  lava.  The  houses  oft- 


OLD    POST-ROAD    FROM    TIFLIS   TO    ERIVAN      305 


entimes  are  built  on  the 
slopes  of  the  mountains, 
and  of  the  blocks  of  lava 
in  such  a  way  as  to  be 
almost  indistinguishable 
therefrom  at  a  short  dis- 
tance. The  dwellings 
are  made  mostly  one 
story  high,  with  flat  mud 
roofs,  and  often  are  sur- 
mounted with  piles  of 
stra\v.  This  straw,  as 
we  soon  observed,  is  put 
to  a  curious  use  in  the 
making  of  fuel.  It  is 
cut  up  and  mixed  with 
the  manure  as  that  is 
taken  fresh  from  the 
stable.  Cakes  about  ten 
inches  in  diameter  and 
two  or  three  inches  thick 
are  made  from  this  mixture  and  plas- 
tered on  to  the  sunny  side  of  the  house 
to  dry.  When  thoroughly  dry  they  are 
piled  up  in  pyramidal  and  conical  heaps 
beside  the  front  door,  usually  reaching 
far  above  the  tops  of  the  dwellings. 
These  great  piles  beside  every  house 
make  a  striking  feature  of  the  landscape, 
and  incidentally  indicate  the  wealth  of 
the  householder  and  the  desirability  of 
his  daughter's  hand  in  marriage. 

The  house  usually  consists  of  two 
rooms,  one  for  the  family,  while  the 
other  is  used  as  a  stable.  A  hole  dug 
in  the  ground  in  the  center  of  the  front 
room  answers  as  a  stove.  The  fuel  is 
broken  up  and  put  into  the  hole,  while 
from  an  iron  rod  laid  across  it  hangs 
the  earthen  vessel  which  contains  the 
food  to  be  cooked.  There  is  no  chim- 
ney to  carry  out  the  dense  smoke  which 
this  fuel  makes  ;  a  simple  hole  in  the 
roof  serves  as  an  outlet,  and  as  one  door 
furnishes  light  and  air  for  both  room 
and  stable,  the  ventilation  cannot  be 
considered  perfect.  At  night  the  people 
roll  themselves  up  in  rugs  and  sleep  on 
the  ground  around  the  fireplace.  Roads 
are  rarely  or  never  repaired.  When  a 


An  Armenian  Household 

hole  becomes  so  deep  that  the  wheels 
of  a  wagon  cannot  touch  bottom  or  there 
is  danger  of  a  sheep  getting  lost  in  it 
if  it  gets  larger,  a  new  road  is  made 
around  the  hole.  If  a  bridge  tumbles 
down  or  is  swept  away,  the  people 
change  their  route,  if  possible,  so  as  to 
cross  where  they  can  ford  the  stream. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  second 
day,  as  we  reached  the  summit  of  the 
ridge  we  were  climbing,  the  full  grand- 
eur of  Mt.  Ararat  burst  upon  us,  and 
even  the  most  experienced  travelers  in 
the  party  could  but  marvel  at  the  view, 
the  peculiar  colors  of  a  sunset  in  an  arid 
region  making  the  snow-capped  moun- 
tain a  never-to-be-forgotten  picture. 
The  peak  is  isolated  and  dominates  the 
country  for  fifty  miles  around.  It  has 
two  summits — one,  Great  Ararat,  which 
is  17,260  feet  in  altitude,  and  the  other, 
Little  Ararat,  13,093  feet  high — the 
two  being  connected  by  a  ridge  or  sad- 
dle more  than  8,000  feet  above  the  sea. 
As  the  surrounding  plain  has  an  eleva- 
tion of  but  3,000  feet,  these  great  soli- 
tary cones  are  much  more  impressive 
than  most  other  mountain  masses  of 
equal  elevation.  There  is  a  belief  cur- 


306        THS   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


The  Ancient  Mosque  at  Erivan 

rent  among  the  peasants  that  Great 
Ararat  has  never  been  ascended  since 
Noah's  time,  and  that  no  human  being 
can  ascend  it  and  live.  The  summit 
has  been  gained,  however,  by  several 
travelers,  and  two  of  our  party  suc- 
ceeded, after  much  exposure  and  hard- 
ship, in  reaching  the  highest  point. 
The  unfortunate  death  of  another  who 
made  the  attempt  probably  served  to 
strengthen  the  prevailing  opinion  of  the 
peasants.  Little  Ararat  presents  no 
mountaineering  difficulties,  and  twenty 
of  the  men  of  our  party  climbed  to  its 
top. 

Erivan,  the  present  capital  of  the 
province  of  Russian  Armenia,  is  situ- 
ated on  the  Zanga  River,  about  30  miles 
from  Mt.  Ararat.  It  has  belonged  to 
Russia  since  1827.  Before  that  time  it 
was  the  stronghold  of  the  Turks  and 
Persians  alternately,  and  as  a  result  is 
an  extremely  interesting  place,  contain- 
ing the  ruins  of  the  palaces  and  fortifi- 
cations of  the  different  nations,  while  it 
remains  essentially  Persian  in  its  char- 
acteristics. The  lofty  brick  and  mud 
walls  along  the  river  were  built  by  the 
Turks,  and,  although  formidable  in 
Medieval  times,  they  would  certainly 
offer  very  little  resistance  to  the  attack 


of   modern    weapons,   even   it" 
they  were  in  good  repair.    The 
Persian  quarter  of  the  city  i^ 
most  interesting,  the  narrow, 
crooked     streets    and     lanes, 
filled  with  men,  veiled  women. 
camels,  and  donkeys,  present- 
ing a  curious  scene.     On  one 
side  of  the  street  might  be  seen 
a  barber  plying  his  trade,  hold- 
ing his  patient's  head  against 
the  side  of  the  house  while  he 
shaved  the  narrow  strip  from 
forehead  to  crown  or  dyed  his 
whiskers  that  peculiar  red  color 
which  all  Persians  affect.     Op- 
posite the  barber,   or  perhaps 
beside  him,  one  might  find  a 
public  stove  covered  with  little 
pots  filled  with  mutton  stew,  or  a  huge 
frying  pan  filled  with  a  mixture  of  fish 
and  tomatoes.     Here  one  stumbles  upon 
an  entrance  to  a  caravanserai  or  khan, 
there  upon  a  long,  dark   passage  to  a 
public   bathing  place,   where  the  men 


A  Study  in  Rags 


OLD    POST-ROAD    FROM    TFFLIS   TO    ERIVAN      307 


congregate  to  smoke,  sip  coffee,  gossip, 
and  bathe. 

The  khans  are  great  courtyards,  sur- 
rounded by  barren  rooms  or  alcoves,  in 
which,  on  payment  of  a  small  sum,  a 
traveler  may  make  himself  and  his 
camel  or  donkey  as  comfortable  for  the 
night  as  his  resources  of  bedding  will 
permit.  A  small  open  cistern  in  the 
middle  of  the  space  receives  the  drain- 
age of  the  courtyard,  and  at  the  same 
time  furnishes  water  to  the  occupants 
of  the  khan  for  washing,  cooking,  and 
drinking.  I  have  seen  a  man  wash  his 
face  and  hands  in  the  reservoir  while 
another  was  drawing  water  from  it  with 
which,  apparently,  to  do  his  cooking, 
this,  too,  in  spite  of  the  presence  of  the 
pump  beside  the  cistern. 

In  the  hotels  it  seemed  impossible  to 
put  down  hat,  umbrella,  or  gloves  and 
find  them  in  their  place  again.  Articles 
would  disappear,  and  when  the  propri- 


etor was  sent  for  and  told  that  the  things 
must  be  found  at  once,  there  would  be 
great  running  hither  and  thither,  writh 
the  resulting  report  that  they  could  not 
have  been  left  where  you  said  they  were. 
At  the  suggestion  of  police  assistance, 
however,  the  articles  would  be  forth- 
coming, a  servant  bringing  them  up  and 
asking  naively  if  these  could  be  the 
missing  articles,  at  the  same  time  re- 
marking that  he  had  found  them  in  a 
place  not  at  all  that  in  which  they  act- 
ually had  been  left.  One  gentleman  of 
our  party  who  had  a  dress  hat  with  him 
besides  his  traveling  cap  had  it  taken 
from  his  room  four  times  in  two  days, 
and,  although  he  left  Erivan  at  last  with 
it  in  his  possessi on,  had  not  traveled  far 
before  he  discovered  that  it  was  gone, 
and  that  time  for  good. 

It  was  interesting  to  watch  the  natives 
baking  bread.  The  dough  is  rolled  out 
into  sheets  three  or  four  feet  long,  about 


The  Village  of  Nijhi  Akhty  on  the  Lava  Plain 


308         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


The  Village  Threshing  Floor  at  Jelenovka 


fifteen  inches  wide,  and  about  as  thick 
as  pie  crust.  These  are  baked  either  on 
beds  of  hot  pebbles  or  in  the  regulation 
oven,  which  consists  of  a  hole  in  the 
ground  three  or  four  feet  deep  and  as 
many  in  diameter,  lined  with  hardened 
clay,  and  narrowing  toward  the  top,  a 
fire  being  built  in  the  bottom  to  heat  the 
clay.  The  baker  spreads  his  sheets  of 
dough  on  a  sort  of  pillow,  and,  dex- 
trously  seizing  it  by  a  handle  on  the 
bottom,  bends  down  into  the  oven  and 
spats  the  dough  against  the  side,  where 
it  sticks  and  is  baked  in  a  few  minutes. 
The  sheets  of  bread  are  pulled  out  of 
the  oven  by  means  of  a  hook  and  hung 
on  the  walls  of  the  shop  to  cool.  The 
bread  is  sold  by  weight,  the  price  be- 
ing about  one  and  one-half  cents  per 
pound,  and  is  delivered  without  wrap- 
ping paper. 


The  people  roll  up  their  sheets  of  bread 
and  carry  them  home  under  their  arms 
as  if  they  were  packages  of  brown  paper. 
It  is  literally  whole- wheat  bread,  and 
though  it  contains  no  salt,  tastes  better 
than  it  looks. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  butter,  one 
made  from  buffaloes'  milk  and  the  other 
from  that  of  cows.  The  former  is  white 
and  tastes  like  tallow,  but  the  latter  can- 
not be  said  to  be  as  attractive  or  any 
more  palatable,  for  the  people  churn  it 
in  a  goat  skin  with  the  hair  inside. 

Each  farmer  seems  to  prepare  his  own 
grain  for  grinding.  After  the  harvest- 
ing, the  grain  is  spread  out  two  or  three 
feet  deep  on  a  spot  of  specially  hardened 
ground,  and  oxen  and  buffaloes  are 
driven  around  over  it  until  the  kernels 
are  broken  out  of  the  heads.  In  some 
cases  the  threshing  instrument  is  a 


JOSEPH   LE   CONTE 


309 


heavy  oblong  board,  like  one  of  our 
stone  sledges,  the  bottom  of  which  has 
been  armed  with  pieces  of  sharp  rock. 
The  drivers  of  these  contrivances  were 
usually  women,  and  sometimes  they 
were  nursing  their  babies  as  they  stood 
or  sat  upon  the  threshing- board.  When 
the  grain  has  all  fallen  to  the  ground, 
the  straw  is  removed  and  the  wheat  is 
winnowed  by  throwing  it  up  into  the 
air  by  means  of  long-handled  wooden 


shovels,  thus  allowing  the  wind  to  blow 
away  the  chaff.  Then  the  grain  is 
gathered  up  and  spread  out  on  skins  by 
the  roadside  or  in  any  other  convenient 
place  to  dry  before  being  stored  or  taken 
to  the  mill  for  grinding.  The  millennium 
evidently  has  not  come  to  these  people, 
for,  contrary  to  the  Scripture  injunc- 
tion, they  muzzle  the  ox  which  is  tread- 
ing out  the  grain  by  tying  wisps  of  straw 
about  his  mouth. 


JOSEPH    LE    CONTE 


IN  the  death  of  Professor  Le  Conte, 
science  loses  one  of  her  most  hon- 
ored exponents,  the  country  one  of 
her  most  exemplary  citizens. 

Joseph  Le  Conte  was  born  in  Georgia, 
February  26,  1823.  He  graduated  from 
the  university  of  his  native  state  as 
A.  B.  in  1841,  and  from  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  New  York 
as  M.  D.  in  1845.  After  some  years  of 
medical  practice  in  Macon,  he  took  a 
special  course  at  Harvard  under  the 
elder  Agassiz,  graduating  as  B.  S.  in 
1851.  Within  a  year  he  became  pro- 
fessor of  natural  sciences  in  Oglethorpe 
College,  Georgia;  later  he  occupied  the 
chair  of  geology  and  physics  in  South 
Carolina  College,  and  during  the  civil  war 
he  served  as  chemist  of  the  Confederate 
government.  During  these  early  years 
his  fame  grew  and  spread  throughout  his 
own  country  and  others,  and  his  abilities 
shone  through  the  war-clouds  beyond 
those  of  his  contemporaries  with  scarce 
an  exception;  and  in  1869  he  was  in- 
vited to  the  chair  of  geology  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  California.  This  important 
position  he  filled,  with  a  success  bring- 
ing him  world- wide  renown,  to  the  day 
of  his  death. 


The  instinct  of  the  explorer,  as  well 
as  of  the  scientific  geographer,  was  strong 
in  Professor  Le  Conte.  While  still  a 
youth  (in  1844)  he  set  out  with  a  young 
kinsman  to  explore  the  then  remote  re- 
gions about  the  Great  Lakes  and  the 
sources  of  the  Mississippi;  and  for  weeks 
the  two  were  beyond  settlements,  out  of 
reach  of  habitations  save  those  of  In- 
dians, subsisting  on  fish  and  game,  and 
mastering  wood-craft  and  all  manner  of 
travel-sense — for,  in  addition  to  walking, 
they  paddled  a  thousand  miles  in  birch- 
bark  canoes.  After  his  transfer  to  the 
Pacific  coast,  Professor  Le  Conte  con- 
tinued to  seize  every  opportunity  for 
outdoor  work;  he  was  more  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  Yosemite  Valley 
than  any  scientific  contemporary,  and 
explored  the  neighboring  and  still  more 
picturesque  Hetch-hetchy  more  minutely 
than  any  other  man;  and  his  personal 
knowledge  of  the  high  sierras,  the  au- 
riferous foot-hills,  the  coast  ranges,  and 
the  great  valley  of  California  was  un- 
excelled. His  taste  for  and  experience 
in  the  actual  flavored  all  his  numerous 
geologic  writings  ;  to  him  earth-science 
was  geography  seen  deep  and  clear. 
These  writings  are  unrivalled  in  simplic- 


Joseph  Le  Coiite 


JOSEPH    LE    CONTE 


ity  and  comprehensiveness — his  "  Ele- 
ments of  Geology,"  indeed,  is  beyond 
comparison  in  any  language  as  an  intro- 
duction to  the  science  of  the  earth. 

Professor  Le  Conte  was  geographer 
and  geologist,  and  much  more  besides  ; 
his  original  researches  in  optics,  in  sev- 
eral lines  of  human  physiology,  and  in 
various  other  subjects,  raised  him  to 
the  rank  of  authority  ;  and  he  had  the 
faculty  withal  of  comprehending  and 
assimilating  the  results  of  other  men's 
work  in  such  wise  that  he  was  at  home 
in  every  field  of  science.  In  his  prime 
when  the  doctrine  of  biotic  evolution 
was  first  formulated,  he  contributed  to  its 
diffusion  materially  and  with  a  special 
effectiveness  by  reason  of  his  own  orig- 
inal work,  as  well  as  his  charm  of  per- 
sonality and  manifest  sincerity  of  pur- 
pose ;  and  one  of  his  most  noteworthy 
books  is  "  Evolution  in  its  Relation  to 
Religious  Thought"  (1887).  He  was 
among  the  pioneers  also  in  the  accept- 
ance and  promulgation  of  the  doctrine  of 
conservation,  one  of  the  first  to  extend 
the  principle  to  the  domain  of  vitality, 
and  the  first  to  extend  it  into  the  realm 
of  mentality  ;  and  he  was  one  of  the  few 
thinkers  of  the  last  decade  to  consider 


favorably  that  form  of  the  doctrine  of 
conservation  in  which  the  persistence  is 
conceived  to  inhere  in  the  particle  rather 
than  primarily  in  the  cosmos  as  a  whole. 
In  fullest  sense  he  was  a  savant  ;  and 
every  subject  touched  by  his  versatile 
mind  was  enlivened  and  made  clearer 
and  more  attractive  by  the  touch.  At 
the  same  time  his  heart  reached  out  to 
every  matter  of  human  interest  :  he 
abounded  in  the  milk  of  human  kind- 
ness ;  his  modesty  and  charity  and 
never-failing  courtesy  impressed  and 
captivated  ;  in  every  respect  he  was  one 
of  the  most  lovable  as  well  as  the  most 
admirable  of  men. 

Professor  L,e  Conte  died  as  he  lived, 
a  student  of  nature.  With  a  small  party 
he  returned  to  the  Yosemite  Valley  early 
in  July,  for  the  purpose  of  reviewing 
recent  suggestions  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
magnificent  gorge  ;  but  the  diminished 
air-pressure  of  the  mountains  led  to  a 
cardiac  derangement,  which  proved  fatal 
within  a  few  hours.  He  died  on  July  6, 
at  the  ripe  age  of  78,  in  a  little  camp 
shadowed  by  the  towering  granite  walls 
of  the  canon  he  had  lived  to  make 
famous. 

W  J  M. 


The  German  Sooth  Polar  Expedition 
will  take  a  full  equipment  of  aerial  ap- 
paratus to  make  systematic  kite  ascen- 
sions from  aboard  ship  during  the  voy- 
age southward  and  also  during  the 
months  in  the  Antarctic  regions.  The 
Monthly  Weather  Review  states  that  the 
kites  "are  of  three  sizes:  the  large 
Marvin,  like  those  used  by  the  Weather 
Bureau,  of  6^3  square  meters  surface  ; 
Hargrave  kites,  of  4  and  2^  square 
meters  surface,  and  light  Eddy  kites,  of 
2^  square  meters,  which  are  very  advan- 
tageously used  in  lifting  and  sustaining 
the  larger  kites  with  instruments  in  light 


winds."  Probably  no  expedition  has 
ever  made  such  complete  preparation  for 
the  systematic  exploration  of  the  upper 
air  conditions  in  South  Polar  regions. 

The  Carnegie  Museum,  Pittsburg,  Pa., 
has  several  parties  working  in  the  field. 
Prof.  J.  B.  Hatcher  is  engaged  in  taking 
up  fossils  at  Canon  City,  Col.;  Messrs. 
W.  E.  C.  Todd,  D.  A.  Atkinson,  and 
George  Mellor  are  in  the  Maritime  Prov- 
inces and  in  Newfoundland  making  nat- 
ural history  collections  for  the  museum, 
and  other  scientists  are  at  work  in  West- 
ern Nebraska  and  Wyoming. 


MOUNT   McKINLEY 


MT.  McKINLEY, 
with  an  altitude 
of  20,464  feet, 
is  the  highest  mountain 
in  North  America,  and 
forms  the  central  point 
of  an  enormous  and  sur- 
passingly grand  moun- 
tain mass,  situated  at 
the  headwaters  of  the 
Sushitna  and  Kuskok- 
wim  Rivers,  in  Alaska. 
The  range  is  a  portion  of 
the  Cordilleran  system  of 
North  America,  which 
follows  in  a  general  way 
the  contour  of  the  west 
coast  of  the  continent 
through  Alaska  and  down 
the  Alaskan  peninsula. 

The  mountain  group 
is  extremely  rugged  and 
is  covered  with  snow  and 
ice  to  within  2,000  or 
2,500  feet  of  sea-level. 
Down  the  sides  of  the 
mountains  flow  many  gla- 
ciers ;  one  which  flows 
off  to  the  northeast  is  be- 
tween 20  to  30  miles  in 
length  and  six  and  eight 
miles  in  breadth,  and  ex- 
tends to  the  Chulitna 
River,  a  branch  of  the 
Shushitna  forming  the 
chief  source  of  water  sup- 
ply of  that  stream  The 
Chulitna  River  at  the  base 
of  the  mountains  has  an 
altitude  of  only  about  500 
feet,  showing  a  descent  of 
20,000  feet  in  the  30  miles 
between  the  summit  of 
the  mountain  and  the 
river. 

Mt.  McKinley  was 
known  to  the  Russians 
settled  about  the  head  of 
Cook  Inlet  nearly  100 
years  ago,  and  was  called 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


"by  them  Bulshaia — /'.  c. ,  Big.  The  first 
American  to  see  and  publish  an  account 
of  it  was  a  prospector  named  W.  A. 
Dickey,  who  gave  the  mountain  its 
present  name.* 

The  writer  made  the  only  measure- 
ments of  height  ever  obtained  of  this 
mountain,  in  the  summer  of  1898,  while 
exploring  the  Shushitna  River  with  a 
party  from  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey. 
For  this  purpose  a  stadia  line  was  run 
up  the  river,  measuring  elevations  as 
well  as  directions  with  a  transit  instru- 
ment reading  to  minutes.  From  points 
on  this  line  six  angles  for  location  and 
elevation  were  obtained  upon  the  moun- 

*X.  Y.  Sun,  January  4,  1897,  p.  6.    Dickey 
estimated  the  height  at  "over  20,000  feet." 


tain,  and  from  these  angles  its  position 
and  height  were  determined.  The  plan 
of  this  triangulation  is  shown  on  the 
accompanying  sketch  map,  and  the  fol- 
lowing are  the  results  : 

L/atitude,  63°  5'  north  ;  longitude, 
151^  oo'  west.  The  height  and  dis- 
tance as  determined  by  the  various 
vertical  angles  are  as  follows  : 

Line.  Distance,  miles.  Height,  feet. 

1  89  20,422 

2  88  20,561 

3  65  20,518 

4  64  20,874 

5  5°  20,737 

6  43.4  20,069 
Weighted  mean  and  adopted  height,  20,464 

ROBERT  MULDROW. 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


THE  TRANS-AUSTRALIAN   RAILWAY 

ON  June  30,  1900,  there  were  12,589 
miles  of  railroad  in  operation  in 
Australia,  almost  all  owned  and  worked 
by  the  government.  These  lines  hardly 
more  than  skirt  the  eastern,  southern, 
and  western  shores  of  the  island  conti- 
nent, and  their  entire  length  is  small  in 
proportion  to  its  2,946,358  square  miles 
of  territory.  Nevertheless  this  railway 
development  is  remarkable  when  one  re- 
members that  the  population  is  hardly 
more  than  four  and  a  half  millions,  and 
that  the  country  was  so  recently  ap- 
proached by  colonists.  Four  of  the 
provinces — New  South  Wales,  Victoria, 
South  Australia,  and  Queensland — are 
connected  by  rail  with  one  another — 
that  is,  one  can  make  a  circuitous  tour, 
skirting  the  shore,  from  Longreach,  in 
Queensland,  to  Oodnadarta,  in  South 
Australia  ;  but  on  arrival  at  the  latter 
settlement  he  is  still  about  a  thousand 
miles  distant  from  the  nearest  railway 
station  in  Westralia.  The  latter  prov- 


ince is  thus  entirely  isolated  from  the 
rest  of  the  Commonwealth. 

One  of  the  most  important  projects 
now  under  the  consideration  of  the  fed- 
eral government  aims  at  bringing  these 
separated  regions  into  communication 
by  rail.  Sir  John  Forrest,  Federal  Post- 
master General  and  Premier  of  Wes- 
tralia, has  worked  out  a  scheme  which 
provides  for  a  railway,  over  a  thousand 
miles  long,  from  Port  Augusta,  the  west- 
ern terminus  of  the  South  Australian 
system,  to  Kalgoorlie,  in  the  Westralian 
gold-fields.  This  line  would  run  along 
the  edge  of  the  Great  Australian  bight 
and  traverse  a  region  that  thus  far  has 
been  hardly  visited  except  by  explorers. 
The  cost  is  estimated  at  about  $12,500,- 
ooo.  This  plan  will  probably  be  adopted 
by  the  Australian  Government.  The 
country  to  be  traversed  is  reported  to  be 
generally  level,  requiring  few  tunnels 
or  Abridges.  The  arguments  for  the 
Trans-Australian  Railway  are  partly 
sentimental,  as  a  means  to  bind  a  fu- 
ture empire  together.  None  the  less  is 


1 4         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


it  true  that  it  would  exert  enormous  in- 
fluence in  opening  unknown  regions  to 
enterprise  and  would  become  a  mighty 
instrument  in  advancing  the  financial 
prosperity  of  the  Commonwealth. 

A  practical  obstacle  to  railway  commu- 
nication between  the  provinces,  or  states 
as  we  must  now  call  them,  is  found  in  the 
different  gauges  employed.  Queens- 
land, South  Australia,  and  Westralia 
use  a  3  feet  6  inches  gauge,  Victoria  a 
5  feet  3  inches  gauge,  and  New  South 
Wales  alone  the  standard  gauge  of  4 
feet  8^4  inches.  Without  doubt  the  new 
system  will  conform  to  the  standard. 

RIVER  PROFILES 

AN  interesting  publication  of  the 
Department  of  Hydrography  of 
the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  on  the  Pro- 
files of  Rivers  in  the  United  States  has 
just  been  published  and  is  now  available 
for  distribution.  Mr.  Gannett,  the  au- 
thor, has  embodied  within  a  hundred 
pages  the  leading  facts  relating  to  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  most  im- 
portant rivers  and  streams  of  the  coun- 
try, noting  their  length,  drainage  area, 
the  location  of  water-power  in  their 
courses,  their  peculiarities  of  flow,  and 
the  nature  of  their  drainage  basins. 

The  rivers  selected  are  those  which 
are  the  largest  in  size  and  bear  most 
directly  upon  the  varied  interests  of  the 
country,  such  as  the  Connecticut,  Hud- 
son, Susquehanna,  Ohio,  Potomac,  Mis- 
sissippi, Missouri,  Platte,  Colorado,  Sac- 
ramento, Columbia,  and  others.  The 
figures  for  the  tables,  showing  height 
above  sea-level  and  fall  per  mile,  were 
collected  from  various  sources.  Some 
were  obtained  from  the  report  of  the 
Chief  Engineer  of  thelJ.  S.  Army,  some 
from  railroad  companies  when  their  lines 
cross  the  streams,  and  some  from  the 
atlas  sheets  of  the  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey. 

In  the  case  of  such  rivers  as  the  Con- 
necticut, Susquehanna,  Mississippi,  and 


Colorado,  where  the  surrounding  com 
try  is  of  peculiar  physiographic  interes 
very  excellent  and  vivid  descriptions 
the  leading  physical  characteristics  ai 
given  which   add    to  the   interest   ar 
render  it  valuable  from  an  education; 
standpoint  in  geographic  and    physio- 
graphic instruction.     The  pamphlet 
the  result  of  much  careful  work,  and 
is  the  first  attempt  to  collect  and  com- 
pile this  information. 

DRAINING  THE  ZUIDER  ZEE 

IT  is  more  than  fifty  years  that  th 
project  of  draining  the  Zuider 
has  been  under  contemplation  by  the 
Dutch  government  and  people.  The 
scheme  proposed  would  restore  to  culti- 
vation and  habitation  a  tract  of  land  com- 
prising about  490,000  acres.  This  land 
was  submerged  in  the  terrible  storms, 
of  the  ninth  and  twelfth  centuries,  and 
has  since  been  lying  at  an  average  depth 
of  10  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  sea. 
It  is  reckoned  that  the  cost  of  this  rest 
ration  would  be  something  like  $50, 
000,000,  but  that  the  value  of  the 
claimed  land  would  repay  the  cost 
least  three  times  over. 

At  present  the  Zuider  Zee  is  too  sh 
low  for  navigation,  and  its  shores  a 
constantly  inundated  and  hardly  bett 
than  swamps.  It  is  proposed  to  co: 
struct  a  dike,  28  miles  in  length,  from 
Enkhuizen  to  the  River  Yssel,  and  by 
steam  pumps  to  remove  the  water  south 
of  this  dike.  Through  the  reclaimed 
area  canals  are  to  be  made,  with  rail- 
roads along  their  banks.  Thus  dis- 
tances would  be  shortened — Friesland 
and  North  Holland,  for  example,  be- 
ing 30  miles  nearer  by  railway  than  at 
present. 

A  new  province,  to  be  called  Wilhel- 
minaland,  would  be  added  to  the  Nether- 
lands, and  the  territory  of  the  little  king- 
dom would  be  increased  one-sixteenth. 
Various  modifications  have  recently  been 
proposed  in  the  comprehensive  plan  sub- 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


mitted  by  the  Dutch  engineers  in  1870, 
and  it  is  still  an  open  question  whether 
the  entire  project  will  be  undertaken, 
and  if  so,  when.  The  time  requisite 
for  completion  of  the  drainage  is  esti- 
mated by  different  experts  as  from 
twelve  to  thirty-six  years. 

EXCAVATIONS    OF    M.    DE    MORGAN 
AT  SUSA 

IN  a  brief  paragraph  one  can  hardly 
do  more  than  hint  at  the  remarkable 
work  accomplished  by  M.  de  Morgan, 
head  of  the  French  expedition,  in  his 
investigations  at  the  ancient  site  of  the 
Persian  city  Susa.  One  must  read  his 
first  report,  just  published  by  the  French 
government.  He  found  traces  of  five 
successive  settlements  on  the  same  site  : 
First,  remains  of  a  Grseco- Parthian  set- 
tlement dating  from  the  third  century 
B.  C. ;  under  these,  remains  of  two  suc- 
cessive Persian  settlements  ;  then  the 
settlement  coeval  with  Nebuchadnezzar, 
and,  lowest  of  all,  vestiges  of  the  city 
destroyed  by  the  Assyrians  2000  years 
before  Christ. 

In  each  layer  of  habitation  important 
discoveries  were  made  whereby  the 
world's  knowledge  is  greatly  increased. 
For  example,  in  the  record  chamber  was 
found  an  inscription  giving  complete 
details  as  to  the  corvee  system  in  Baby- 
lonia. Other  still  more  ancient  inscrip- 
tions conveying  a  mass  of  information 
were  unearthed  in  the  same  chamber. 
Specially  to  be  noted  is  a  finely  carved 
stele  of  Naramsin,  son  of  Sargon,  going 
back  to  about  3900  B.  C.  M.  de  Mor- 
gan is  at  present  engaged  in  working 
up  the  vast  amount  of  material  he  has 
laid  bare.  His  first  report  can  be  con- 
sidered only  as  introductory  to  the  vol- 
umes in  course  of  preparation.  What 
he  has  already  done  marks  an  epoch  in 
oriental  archaeology. 

Paul  do  Chaillu  is  oh  his  way  to  Russia, 
where  he  will  live  for  three  or  four 


years  studying  the  great  Slav  Empire 
and  its  people.  Mr.  du  Chaillu  believes 
that  Russia  is  entirely  misunderstood  in 
America.  It  is  his  aim  to  see  person- 
ally the  problems  that  confront  this  ex- 
panding race,  and  to  learn  the  motives 
and  ambitions  that  animate  them.  He 
will  study  and  live  among  all  classes 
and  in  all  parts  of  the  empire,  from  St. 
Petersburg  to  Vladivostok.  Probably 
no  American  traveler  since  the  days  of 
George  Kennan  has  had  such  liberty  of 
action  as  Mr.  du  Chaillu  will  enjoy. 

The  United  States  Consular  List  fur- 
nishes some  interesting  information  con- 
cerning the  tenure  of  office  of  our 
Diplomatic  Corps  and  Consular  Service. 
Out  of  276  persons  employed  in  these 
services  it  appears  that  190,  or  69  per 
cent,  have  served  for  five  \  ears  or  more  ; 
that  37  per  cent  have  served  for  ten 
years  or  more,  and  that  14  per  cent 
have  served  for  20  years  or  more.  Three 
persons  have  served  for  27  years  each, 
two  persons  28  years,  and  one  person 
each  29,  30,  32,  37,  and  48  years.  The 
average  term  of  service  of  persons  in 
the  United  States  Consular  and  Diplo- 
matic Service  abroad  has  been  9.4  years. 
From  the  above  figures  it  would  seem 
that  the  charge  that  our  Consular  and 
Diplomatic  Service  is  wanting  in  expe- 
rience is  scarcely  sustained. 

New  French  Ocean  Cables. — With  the 
desire  to  make  French  trade  independ- 
ent of  the  British  cable  service,  the 
French  Ministry  of  Commerce  and 
Posts  has  lately  completed  the  laying  of 
two  new  cables.  The  first  is  from  Oran , 
in  western  Algeria,  to  a  port  in  Mo- 
rocco. The  other  is  from  Hue,  in  An- 
nam,  to  Amoy,  in  the  Chinese  province 
of  Fukien,  opposite  Formosa.  From 
Amoy  messages  from  and  to  French 
Indo-China  will  be  carried  over  the 
Chinese  land  lines  and  the  Russian- 
Siberian  wires.  Thus  the  French  Gov- 


316         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


eminent  will  have  direct  communica- 
tion with  its  representatives  without 
the  use  of  foreign  cables.  A  line  to 
Madagascar,  in  conjunction  with  the 
German -Dutch  cable  to  German  East 
African  colony,  and  a  cable  from  Mada- 
gascar to  Lorenzo  Marques  are  also 
projected. 

Massacre  of  Dr.  James  Chalmers. — A 
dispatch  from  Sidney,  New  South  Wales, 
announces  the  massacre  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
James  Chalmers  and  a  party  of  white 
men  by  the  cannibals  on  the  Fly  River, 
New  Guinea.  For  more  than  twenty 
years  Dr.  Chalmers  has  labored  among 
the  natives  of  this  large  island,  both 
as  teacher  and  explorer.  It  is  owing 
mainly  to  his  exertions  that  New  Guinea 
is  so  well  known  today.  He  explored 
the  Alps  of  New  Guinea,  that  range  of 
mountains  extending  for  200  miles  par- 
allel to  the  southern  coast  and  reaching 
an  altitude  of  from  10,000  to  12,000  feet. 
He  was  also  one  of  the  founders  of  Fort 
Moresby,  the  present  capital  of  British 
New  Guinea.  The  Fly  River,  where  he 
met  his  death,  was  explored  for  hun- 
dreds of  miles  by  this  intrepid  explorer. 

The  U.  S.  Board  on  Geographic  Names 
has  published  a  special  report  contain- 
ing a  list  showing  the  approved  spell- 
ing of  about  4,000  coastwise  names  in 
the  Philippine  archipelago.  There  has 
hitherto  been  much  difficult}1  with  the 
names,  inasmuch  as  existing  charts, 
books,  maps,  and  publications  all  dis- 
agreed .  Spanish  charts  contained  either 
all  Spanish  names  or  Spanish  names 
and  also  Malay  names  written  accord- 
ing to  Spanish  methods.  On  English 
charts  the  spelling  of  some  of  the  Ma- 
lay names  had  been  altered  to  conform 
to  English  and  American  methods  'of 
writing  native  names,  and  naturally 


numerous  errors  and  great  contusion 
had  arisen.  The  U.  S.  Board  on  Geo- 
graphic Names,  when  appealed  to  for 
advice,  after  due  consideration,  recom- 
mended that  the  names  in  current  use 
and  their  spelling,  as  shown  on  tlu 
Spanish  official  maps  and  charts,  should 
be  followed.  The  H ydrographic  Office, 
pursuant  to  this  advice,  under  the  di- 
rection of  Capt.  C.  C.  Todd,  V.  S 
prepared,  chiefly  from  Spanish  official 
charts,  the  list  of  names  which  are  in- 
cluded in  this  special  report  of  the  Board. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  nanu 
were  approved  by  Father  Jose  Algue, 
of  Manila,  the  highest  authority  in  the 
Philippine  Islands. 

Remeasurement  of  the  Arc  of  Quito. — 
A  large  party  of  French  scientists  have 
landed  in  Peru  to  begin  the  remeasure- 
ment  of  the  arc  of  Quito,  first  measured 
1 60  years  ago  by  Bouguer,  La  Conda- 
mine,  and  Godin,  of  the  French  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences.  As  great  improve- 
ments have  since  been  made  in  the 
method  and  instruments  for  geodetic 
work,  arcs  of  the  earth  can  now  be  meas- 
ured with  an  almost  inappreciable  error, 
and  it  will  be  interesting  to  note  how 
closely  the  remeasurement  will  follow 
the  first. 

In  1899  the  French  Government 
patched  a  reconnaissance  party,  in  c 
mand  of  Captains  Maurain  and 
combe,  to  make  a  general  survey  of  th 
country  and  to  submit  a  plan  of  organi 
zation.  They  spent  several  months  i 
1899  in  Peru,  and  on  their  return  recom 
mended  that  the  arc  be  prolonged  in 
both  directions.  Their  plan  has  been 
adopted,  and  the  party  that  has  recently 
landed  in  Peru  will  work  four  or  five 
years  there  carrying  it  out.  The  arc 
will  extend  over  7  degrees,  or  about  430 
miles. 


VOL.  XII,  No.  9 


WASHINGTON  SEPTEMBER,  1901 


SIBERIA 


BY  PROF.  EDWIN  A.  GROSVENOR 


MY  subject  is  in  striking  contrast 
to  the  subjects  upon  which 
during  this  Lenten  course 
learned  lecturers  have  spoken  from  this 
platform.  Their  topics  have  been  India, 
China,  and  southwestern  Asia.  Under 
the  latter  term  were  grouped  Chaldea, 
Babylonia,  Persia,  Judea,  and  Arabia — 
that  is,  they  have  pictured  the  empires 
which  are  most  ancient  and  the  civiliza- 
tion the  most  hoary.  In  graphic  resume 
they  have  described  what  was  accom- 
plished on  the  venerable  banks  of  the 
Ganges  and  Indus  and  Hoang-ho,  of  the 
Tigris  and  Euphrates  and  Jordan.  The 
very  mention  of  those  regions  suggests 
everything  that  is  splendid  and  old. 
The  distinguished  Vice- President  of  this 
Society,  when  he  sums  up  what  his  pred- 
ecessors have  said  and  supplies  all  that 
they  have  omitted,  will  have  as  his  topic 
"Asia,  the  cradle  of  the  race." 

My  subject,  Siberia,  evokes  no  asso- 
ciation of  ancient  greatness  and  achieve- 
ment. Its  meagre  history  is  confined  to 
the  last  few  centuries.  Rich  currents  of 
human  life  have  never  flowed  across  it. 
The  past  of  China,  India,  and  southwest- 
ern Asia  teems  with  power  and  wealth 
and  glory .  The  past  of  Siberia  has  been 
in  almost  every  mind  only  the  synonym 


of  polar  dreariness  and  desolation  coupled 
with  penal  settlements  and  convict  sta- 
tions. 

But  what  are  India,  Babylonia,  Judea, 
and  Arabia  today  ?  What  influence  do 
they  in  their  present  state  exert  upon 
the  advance  of  humanity  ?  Is  there  any 
indication  of  future  or  even  present 
grandeur  in  the  shadow  they  now  cast 
upon  the  world's  map?  Even  China, 
the  long-lived  empire,  in  whose  antiquity 
cycles  seem  like  years,  has  as  its  highest 
concern  merely  to  exist,  merely  to  defer 
for  a  season  the  dismemberment  and  dis- 
solution which,  however  long  delayed, 
are  ultimately  sure. 

From  them,  dead  or  dying,  we  turn 
northward  to  Siberia,  to  that  enormous 
tract  which  reaches  from  the  Altai 
Mountains  to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  from 
the  Urals  to  the  Pacific.  No  prophetic 
eye  is  needed,  only  the  eye  which  see- 
ing causes  foresees  results,  to  anticipate 
the  day  when  Siberia  itself  shall  be  the 
greater  Russia  of  the  centuries  which 
are  to  come. 

THE  TWO  CONQUESTS 

Prior  to  this  great  result  two  con- 
quests were  necessary.  The  first  con- 


318        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


quest  was  to  bring  the  domain  under  a 
single  master,  either  an  individual  or  a 
nation,  so  that  throughout  the  wide 
extent  only  one  authority  should  be  ac- 
knowledged. This  was  to  be  a  con- 
quest by  force  over  the  barbarians  and 
scattered  tribes  which  constituted  its 
only  inhabitants.  It  was  possible  when- 
ever sufficient  force  from  outside  should 
be  employed.  The  second  conquest  was 
that  over  inhospitable  and  hostile  na- 
ture, over  distance  and  climatic  condi- 
tions. It  was  to  introduce  a  national 
element  and  make  a  cold  and  repellent 
region  pulsate  with  the  warmth  and 
energy  of  national  impulse  and  life.  It 
was  to  conquer  the  wilderness  by  civili- 
zation, but  a  wilderness  which  the  civili- 
ization  of  even  the  recent  past  would 
have  been  unable  to  subdue.  Through 
the  centuries  for  this  second  conquest 
the  land  had  been  waiting.  Civiliza- 
tion has  been  well  defined  as  the  victory 
of  mind  over  external  obstacles.  Not 
till  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century 
had  science  furnished  civilization  the 
arms  for  the  subjugation  of  Siberia. 

THE  FIRST  CONQUEST 

It  is  of  interest  and  significance  to  us 
Americans  when  recalling  our  colonial 
history  to  observe  how  while  one  wave 
pressed  outward  across  the  Atlantic  an- 
other wave  pressed  eastward  into  Asia. 
The  stream  of  European  conquest  which 
reached  the  American  shores  from  west- 
ern Europe  was  paralleled  in  Siberia  by 
a  contemporaneous  stream  of  conquest 
from  eastern  Europe. 

In  1558  the  English  Elizabeth  began 
her  memorable  reign'.  That  same  year 
Ivan  the  Awful  gave  Gregori  Strogonoff 
twenty  square  miles  of  desert  land  upon 
the  River  Kama,  with  permission  to  at- 
tack anything  toward  the  east.  "  The 
Good  Com  panics  of  the  Don,"  a  euphe- 
mistic name  for  the  mob  of  brigands 
and  outlaws,  furnished  an  army.  Irmak 
Timofeeff,  the  more  than  Pizarro  or 


Cortez  of  the  Slavs,  became  chief  com- 
mander of  their  wild  forces.  Having 
no  seas  to  cross,  there  was  no  need  for 
him  to  embark  and  disembark  his  troops. 
He  could  always  be  marching  on.  In 
1580  the  brigand  chief  attacked  and 
carried  by  assault  Sbir,  the  capital  of  a 
powerful  descendant  of  Genghis  Khan. 
Ever  since  the  province  has  been  called 
Sibir,  or  Siberia,  from  the  name  of  the 
conquered  capital.  Streams  of  Cossacks 
followed  and  spread  in  every  direction 
from  the  path  he  had  marked  out.  In 
1649  Khabaroff,  with  three  cannon  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  marched  to 
the  extreme  east  and  occupied  the  Amur 
Basin.  That  territory  then  owed  a 
nominal  allegiance  to  China,  and  from 
it  the  Russian  adventurers  were  com- 
pelled to  retire  by  the  treaty  of  Nev- 
shink.  Meanwhile  resolute  explorers 
and  pioneers  had  been  pushing  north- 
ward and  eastward  all  over  the  trackless 
waste  which  lay  between  Russia  and  the 
Pacific.  Meanwhile  in  America  men 
as  dauntless  and  determined  had  been 
pushing  westward  from  the  Atlantic  in 
continuous  warfare  with  nature  and  the 
Indians. 

Nicolas  Nicolaievitch  Muravieff  was 
made  governor  of  eastern  Siberia  in 
1847.  He  was  the  son  of  an  illustrious 
father  and  one  of  five  illustrious  broth- 
ers, all  of  whom  served  Russia  well. 
He  realized  that  what  the  Nile  is  to 
Egypt  the  Amur  is  to  Siberia.  It  was 
then  an  almost  unknown  river.  In 
obedience  to  his  orders,  Lieutenant  N\-- 
velsky  made  forty-five  ineffectual  at- 
tempts to  find  its  mouth.  He  succeeded 
only  at  the  forty-sixth.  Herein  is  illus- 
trated both  the  geographic  ignorance  of 
the  time  and  the  tireless  persistence  of 
the  Russian. 

Muravieff  sent  to  the  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment at  Pekin  asking  permission  to 
navigate  the  river.  Without  waiting 
for  an  answer  that  would  probably  never 
come,  he  embarked  upon  its  bosom  May 
1 8,  1854.  It  was  the  time  of  the  Cri- 


SIBERIA 


3*9 


mean  War.  Allied  Great  Britain,  France, 
Turkey,  and  Sardinia  were  hammering 
at  the  ramparts  of  Sebastopol,  which 
they  finally  took  after  a  siege  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty-one  days  and  the  loss 
•of  over  100,000  men.  In  1860  Count 
Ignatieff ,  ' '  alone  and  unsupported  save 
for  Russian  prestige,"  obtained  from 
the  Chinese  Government  its  signature 
to  the  treaty  of  Pekin.  Thereby  the 
left  bank  of  the  Amur  and  the  right 
bank  of  the  Usuri  were  ceded  to  Russia. 
In  point  of  fact,  China  in  no  way  suf- 
fered from  the  cession.  She  had  de- 
rived no  revenue  from  the  ceded  terri- 
tory and  had  never  sent  governors  into 
it  or  exercised  any  control  over  it. 
None  the  less,  that  acquisition  was  to 
be  so  momentous  in  its  consequences 
that,  in  comparison,  the  temporary  check 
received  by  Russia  at  Sebastopol  was  a 
bagatelle.  By  that  treaty  the  first  con- 
quest of  Siberia  became  complete.  In 
its  entirety  it  recognized  the  authority 
of  the  Tsar.  From  the  banks  of  the 
Neva  north  of  the  Altai  Mountains  as 
far  as  the  Sea  of  Japan  the  whole  pro- 
digious tract  was  under  a  single  rule. 
While  the  world  looked  on,  Russia,  al- 
most unconsciously,  was  shifting  her 
maritime  base  ;  alone  of  the  European 
states,  she  from  her  continental  domin- 
ions looked  out  upon  eastern  seas. 
Though  other  western  nations  held 
isolated  ports  and  islands  in  eastern 
waters,  Russia  alone  reached  and  dom- 
inated those  waters  by  broad  territorial 
possessions  that  were  continuous. 

VLADIVOSTOK 

Though  holding  a  coast  line  of  many 
hundred  miles  along  the  Pacific,  she  then 
possessed  no  city  or  inhabited  tract  adja- 
cent to  a  harbor  upon  its  shores.  In  1 86 1 
forty  men  were  sent  by  Alexander  II. 
They  landed  at  the  head  of  a  bay  bear- 
ing the  significant  name  of  Bay  of  Peter 
the  Great,  at  the  extreme  southeastern 
point  of  the  Russian  possessions  in  Asia. 


Erecting  a  fort,  with  a  presumption  that 
seems  amusing,  they  gave  to  the  spot 
the  name  of  Vladivostok,  "The  Mis- 
tress of  the  East. ' '  Other  fortifications 
were  erected,  and  a  city  speedily  arose, 
which  boasts  over  40,000  inhabitants 
today.  It  is  lighted  by  electricity  and 
shows  every  indication  of  western  pro- 
gress. Its  erection  on  that  splendid  and 
potential  harbor  is  a  typical  illustration 
of  the  fruits  that  spring  from  the  estab- 
lishment of  Russian  Government  in 
Siberia. 

PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  IN  SIBERIA 

In  discussing  Siberia,  statements  of 
dimension  and  distance  confuse  and  be- 
wilder rather  than  enlighten.  It  is  of 
small  advantage  to  dwell  upon  its  area 
of  over  4,900,000  square  miles.  If  the 
forty-five  states  which  compose  the 
American  Union  were  taken  up  and 
planted  bodily  in  the  midst  of  Siberia, 
they  would  be  enclosed  in  every  direc- 
tion by  a  wide  border  of  land.  In  this 
border  territory  all  the  countries  of  Eu- 
rope except  Russia  could  likewise  be 
planted  bodily,  and  there  would  remain 
still  unoccupied  300,000  square  miles, 
an  area  twice  the  size  of  imperial  Ger- 
many. We  have  now  to  consider  cer- 
tain gloomy  and  repellent  facts  that  at 
first  discourage  speculation  and  half 
paralyze  hope.  Only  as  we  realize 
what  Siberia  is,  only  as  we  consider  the 
immense  disadvantages  as  well  as  the 
advantages  of  its  geographic  position, 
can  we  take  into  full  account  what 
Siberia  is  and  what  it  will  be.  The  vic- 
tory of  arms  is  complete.  The  victory 
of  settled  life,  of  laborious  industry,  of 
applied  science,  is  but  begun.  But  the 
hero  who  carries  the  sword  is  inferior  to 
the  pioneer,  and  the  colonist  who  wars 
with  unwilling  nature  utilizes  its  locked  - 
up  resources  and  compels  it  to  serve 
him.  The  southeastern  portion  of  Sibe- 
ria is  an  immense  plateau  in  the  midst 
of  mountains.  Toward  the  west  and 


320 


THE  NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


north  it  takes  the  form  of  a  prodigious 
plain,  which  descends  gradually  to  the 
Arctic.  Plain  and  plateau  are  alike 
north  of  the  fiftieth  degree  north  lati- 
tude— that  is  to  say,  that  its  most  south- 
ern points,  except  along  the  Amur  and 
the  Usuri  and  in  west  Siberia,  are  farther 
north  than  any  locality  in  the  United 
States.  Its  Cape  Chelyuskin,  in  77°  36' 
north  latitude,  reaches  nearer  to  the 
Pole  than  any  other  continental  spur  of 
land  in  either  hemisphere.  Shut  in  by 
mountains  from  the  Pacific  and  the 
south,  Siberia  is  open  and  without  pro- 
tection to  the  winds  from  the  Arctic. 
So,  scattered  over  its  surface,  are  tracts 
unsurpassed  in  intensity  of  cold.  In 
this  regard  Verhoyansk  has  the  preem- 
inence. Its  average  temperature  dur- 
ing the  three  winter  months  is  — 53° 
Fahrenheit,  while  sometimes  an  extreme 
of  — 90°  is  reached.  Its  average  annual 
temperature  is  only  two  degrees  above 
zero  ;  yet  even  there  human  beings  cling 
like  the  moss  and  lichens  and  manage  to 
exist  the  whole  year  through.  The 
trend  of  land  gives  a  northern  direction 
to  the  masses  of  water — the  Obi,  the 
Yenisei,  the  Lena, and  their  tributaries — 
which  we  call  rivers  and  which  for 
months  through  much  of  their  course 
are  frozen  rather  than  flowing  seas. 

THE  ZONES 

The  4,900,000  square  miles  of  terri- 
tory naturally  divide  into  three  roughly 
parallel  zones.  North  of  an  imaginary 
line,  in  general  coinciding  with  the  sixty- 
ninth  parallel,  is  the  zone  of  the  tundra. 
Here  are  comprised  about  1,600,000 
square  miles.  In  a  part  of  this  terri- 
tory the  ground  is  frozen  throughout 
the  year,  in  winter  to  the  depth  of  40 
feet,  yet  something  like  100,000  human 
beings  know  no  other  home  than  the 
tundra.  Between  the  sixty-ninth  and 
sixtieth  parallels  is  the  forest  zone,  cov- 
ering an  extent  of  about  2 , 3 20,000  square 
miles  and  containing  a  population  of  less 


than  1,000,000.  The  supply  of  timber 
is  practically  exhausted.  Its  fur-bear- 
ing animals  render  it  above  any  other 
part  of  the  globe  the  land  of  the  fur 
hunter.  Its  broad  rivers  are  packed 
with  fish.  Its  wealth  of  minerals  and 
metals  is  accessible  in  the  very  surface 
of  the  ground.  South  of  the  sixtieth 
parallel  is  the  zone  of  arable  land,  em- 
bracing about  900,000  square  miles  in 
a  belt  nearly  4,000  miles  long  and  from 
250  to  300  miles  wide.  This  is  the 
Siberia  which  today  counts  the  most. 
It  is  the  part  now  being  brought  into 
intimate  connection  with  the  rest  of  the 
world.  The  prime  requisite  for  its  de- 
velopment has  been  inhabitants,  and 
then  means  of  communication  and  trans- 
portation. Beside  unequalled  capacity 
for  the  production  of  cereals,  it  is  dotted 
all  over  with  great  deposits  of  coal,  iron, 
gold,  and  the  most  useful  and  valuable 
minerals  and  metals.  The  word  Altai 
means  golden. 

COLONIZATION 

But  in  the  mind  of  the  Russian,  IK 
less  than  of  the  foreigner,  Siberia  up  to 
a  few  years  ago  has  meant  only  suffering 
and  exile.  It  seemed  set  apart  by  God 
and  the  Tsar  as  the  prison-house  of  the 
outlaw  and  the  felon.  In  18993  ukase 
of  Nicholas  II  forbade  the  entry  here- 
after of  convicts  and  suspected  person- 
and  thus  ended  its  woeful  old-time  mi? 
sion  forever. 

From  the  dawn  of  creation  up  to  the 
present  time  Siberia  has  been  waiting 
even  as  North  America  waited  through 
the  ages  for  the  states  that  were  to  arise 
within  its  boundaries.  In  1888  its  real 
colonization  began  when  26,000  immi- 
grants crossed  its  frontiers.  Then  30,000 
came  in  1889,  36,000  in  1890,  60,000  in 
1891,  100,000  each  year  from  1892  to 
1896,  then  150,000,  200,000,  and  now 
more  than  250,000  annually.  While  ex- 
cluding undesirable  persons,  the  govern- 
ment adopts  generous  measures  toward 


SIBERIA 


321 


worthy  immigrants.  To  every  family, 
when  desired,  it  advances  $25  for  the 
expenses  of  the  journey,  assigns  gra- 
tuitously 40  acres  to  each  man  on  his 
arrival,  and  further  promises  to  assist 
with  a  loan  of  $50.  The  only  great  land- 
lord is  the  emperor  or  this  state.  Serf- 
dom has  never  existed  east  of  the  Urals. 
Even  political  conditions,  as  affecting 
the  colonist,  are  not  greatly  unlike  those 
west  of  the  Mississippi  before  the  con- 
struction of  the  Pacific  Railroad.  The 
present  population  is  over  7,000,000 
persons.  Among  them  are  convicts  and 
descendants  of  convict  stock.  None  the 
less  this  class  forms  already  an  incon- 
siderable proportion.  It  is  probably 
no  greater,  if  as  great,  as  among  the 
Americans  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revo- 
lution. 

The  impartial  story  of  immigration  to 
the  trans- Atlantic  colonies  in  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries  is  not 
congenial  to  our  ancestral  and  material 
pride.  Nine  of  the  colonies  were  offi- 
cially penal  stations,  to  which  about 
2,000  convicts  were  sent  annually  for 
many  years.  From  1715  to  1765  more 
than  70,000  such  persons  were  sent  over, 
among  them  10,000  from  the  Old  Bailey 
alone.  In  1787  Botany  Bay  was  made 
a  convict  station,  that  it  might  in  that 
capacity  replace  the  then  independent 
American  States.  It  is  estimated  that 
today  in  the  newly  federated  Common- 
wealth of  Australia  through  the  veins 
of  three  persons  out  of  every  seven  flows 
convict  blood.  In  Australia,  as  in  Amer- 
ica, what  was  evil  among  the  early  set- 
tlers has  been  largely  absorbed  in  the 
virgin  political  soil.  Among  a  new  peo- 
ple only  the  brave  and  hardy  qualities 
tend  to  perpetuate  themselves  and  to 
endure.  So  is  it  and  so  will  it  be  in 
Siberia.  Adullam's  Cave,  first  the  ren- 
dezvous of  outlaws,  became  the  scene 
and  source  of  heroism  and  accomplish- 
ment unsurpassed  in  the  Bible. 

In  the  "Awakening  of  the  East," 
Pierre  L,eroy-Beaulieu  gives  a  vivid 


picture  of  the  various  groups  of  present 
colonists  at  their  nightly  campings,  the 
men  unsaddling  the  horses,  the  women 
going  to  the  springs  and  preparing  food, 
the  children  playing,  and  some  old  man 
seated  by  the  roadside  reading  the  Bible 
to  attentive  listeners.  The  stock  now 
peopling  Siberia  is  that  from  which 
empires  are  made.  Partially  delivered 
from  old  traditions,  equal  in  the  de- 
mocracy of  labor,  and  forced  to  meet 
new  conditions  and  new  exigencies, 
Siberia  is  to  solve  political  problems 
with  which  old  European  Russia  is  un- 
able to  grapple.  The  sun  of  political 
regeneration  in  the  Russian  Empire 
shines  from  the  East. 

WORLD  ROUTES 

The  currents  of  history  are  prone  to 
follow  the  beds  of  rivers,  and  commerce 
at  first  wanders  along  the  roads  which 
nature  herself  has  marked  out.  Until 
four  centuries  ago  the  East  and  the 
West  poured  toward  and  across  the 
Mediterranean  to  reach  and  benefit  each 
other  with  the  products  of  their  agri- 
culture and  industry.  The  discovery  of 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  the  circum- 
navigation of  Africa  forced  the  aban- 
donment of  this  ancient  route,  dealt  the 
death  blow  to  the  princely  cities  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  centered  the  world's 
front  in  the  British  Islands  and  Holland. 
Now  we  are  the  amazed  spectators  of 
the  beginning  of  that  which  is  to  make 
the  world  again  change  its  base — com- 
mercial, political,  strategic,  and  perhaps 
religious.  Words  can  hardly  exagger- 
ate the  momentous  significance  of  the 
Trans-Siberian  Railway,  a  work  not  yet 
completed,  and  the  parts  already  in  oper- 
ation not  yet  beyond  the  initial,  experi- 
mental stage.  Even  when  its  rails  are 
at  last  in  place  and  Vladivostok  and 
Port  Arthur  are  in  full  connection  with 
St.  Petersburg  and  Odessa,  and  the 
trains  conveying  passengers  and  freight 
begin  to  run  with  regularity  and  dis- 


322         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


patch  between  the  distant  termini,  the 
incalculable  consequences  of  the  vast 
enterprise  will  be  only  in  their  begin- 
ning. Every  time  the  whistle  of  the 
locomotive  blows,  in  its  blast  is  the  call 
not  to  resurrection — for  in  that  northern 
Asiatic  vastitude  there  is  no  dead  past — 
but  to  the  new,  first  birth  of  Siberia. 

TRANS-SIBERIAN  RAILWAY 

In  1891  the  first  coupons  \vrere  issued 
for  the  building  of  this  railway.  In 
December,  1892,  the  work  was  begun. 
A  highway  was  to  be  pushed  from  St. 
Petersburg  to  the  Pacific,  a  band  of  steel 
5,852  miles  long,  binding  the  extremities 
of  the  empire  and  over  its  polished  track 
affording  an  unrivalled  route  for  the  com- 
mingling of  East  and  West  and  of  their 
measureless  products.  From  Paris  to 
Vladivostok  the  journey  by  passenger 
and  traffic  was  to  be  made  in  twelve 
days,  and  later  on  in  ten.  From  Paris 
to  Pekin  in  thirteen  days,  to  Hongkong 
in  seventeen  days,  diminishing  the  ex- 
pense in  money  and  in  time  by  a  third 
or  a  half. 

This  railroad  was  to  be  financiered, 
constructed,  and  administered  not  by 
private  enterprise  but  by  the  state. 
Hence  its  object  was  not  by  financial 
returns  to  s\vrell  the  revenues  of  giant 
corporations  or  individual  capitalists. 
The  profit  and  loss  account  on  its  pecu- 
niary side  was  a  minor  consideration. 
Its  single  design  and  aim  was  to 
strengthen  and  develop  the  Russian 
Empire,  and  as  an  ultimate  result  to 
insure  that  empire  the  dominion  of  the 
East,  the  mastery  of  Asia. 

THE    RAILWAY    A     DETERMINING 
POLITICAL  FACTOR 

As  the  strategic  position  of  Russia  over 
against  Asia  is  unique,  so  is  this  railroad 
unique  in  its  possibilities.  Whatever 
acquisitions  Great  Britain  or  (Germany 
now  holds,  or  may  hereafter  obtain  on 


the  Asiatic  continent,  those  possession 
are  remote  by  thousands  of  miles  frot 
their  base,  and  their  efficiency  depenc 
upon  a  difficult  and  precarious  coniu 
tion  through  those  thousand  miles 
sea  and  land.  Nor  can  those  p<> 
sions  be  brought  into  much  more  inti- 
mate relation  with  each  other  and  with 
the  home  empire  than  they  already  are. 
That  is,  for  Great  Britain  or  Germany 
or  any  other  power  to  devise  a  political 
or  strategic  rival  to  the  Trans-Siberian 
Railway  is  an  utter  impossibility.  It 
remains,  and  must  remain,  the  most 
stupendous  agent  in  determining  the 
destiny  of  the  globe  that  has  yet  K-ui 
conceived  by  man.  It  is  to  be  main- 
tained, as  it  was  first  originated,  under 
the  most  favorable  geographic  circum- 
stances which  a  state  has  ever  enjoyed 
for  the  accomplishment  of  a  gigantic  un- 
dertaking. There  is  no  assertion  here 
that  as  an  achievement  of  engineering 
skill  this  railway  surpasses  or  even 
equals  a  trans-American  railroad  from 
New  York  to  San  Francisco,  or  a  trans- 
African  railroad  from  Alexandria  to  the 
Cape.  Viewed  merely  as  a  railroad,  it 
may  in  every  respect  be  inferior 
either  ;  its  trains  may  be  less  com  me 
dious  or  less  luxurious,  its  locomotivi 
less  powerful  or  less  swift,  its  technical 
management  less  efficient  or  less  saga- 
cious ;  but,  regarding  simply  geographic 
position,  having  in  mind  only  where  it 
runs,  what  it  connects,  and  what  it  must 
inevitably  effect,  nowhere  can  expe- 
rience or  imagination  suggest  a  rival. 
The  nearest  approach  to  rivalry  would 
be  afforded  by  some  line  crossing  China 
from  west  to  east.  But  the  western 
terminus  of  such  a  line  would  of  neces- 
sity be  close  upon  Russian  Siberia  or 
Russian  Turkestan  ;  it  would  traverse 
only  a  moribund  or  disintegrating  Asi- 
atic state  ;  and  whatever  might  be  the 
governing  board  of  its  construction  and 
administration,  it  would  indirectly,  if 
not  directly,  be  subject  to  Russian  influ- 
ence. 


SIBERIA 


323 


RUSSIAN  POWER 

The  Russian  Empire  is  the  largest 
economic  unit  in  the  world,  and  disposes 
of  a  larger  capital  than  any  other  cor- 
poration, all  under  the  impulse  of  a  sin- 
gle will.  In  Siberia  more  than  one-third 
of  the  land — that  is,  more  than  i ,  700,000 
square  miles — is  the  property  of  the  gov- 
ernment. To  open  up  the  fields,  and 
utilize  the  rivers,  and  work  the  mines, 
and  push  the  industries,  and  swell  the 
armies,  only  men  are  needed,  and  we 
have  seen  how  every  possible  facility 
and  encouragement  is  afforded  by  the 
government  to  the  desirable  colonist. 
The  supremacy  of  mind  over  the  ob- 
stacles of  nature  is  as  yet  far  from  com- 
plete. Though  man  can  resist  heat 
and  cold  better  than  any  other  animal, 
he  is  still  profoundly  affected  by  its  ex- 
tremes. Science,  at  the  rate  of  five  or 
six  miles  an  hour,  can  drive  the  ironclad 
of  2,000  or  even  10,000  tons  through 
ice  8,  10,  and  12  feet  in  thickness,  and 
between  the  piled-up  frozen  walls  open 
a  path  for  commerce  to  follow  in  its 
wake.  Each  coming  year  is  to  see,  as 
each  recent  year  has  seen,  some  new  ad- 
vance over  barriers  once  deemed  impass- 
able, some  new  victory  over  obstacles 
once  deemed  invincible  What  may  not 
limitless  resources  effect  when  put  at  the 
disposal  of  profound  sagacity  and  of 
absolute  will  ! 

Material  advancement  is  by  no  means 
all  nor  is  it  the  chief  consideration.  The 
whole  Russian  political  system  has  been 
built  upon  the  broad  substructure  of 
Slavic  nature  as  that  nature  has  been 
shaped  by  its  geographic  environment. 
However  repugnant  to  every  instinct  of 
our  American  life  that  system  may  be, 
it  is  no  creation  of  accident  or  arbitrary 
caprice,  but  of  the  inflexible  circum- 
stances that  determined  its  form.  In 
new  conditions  in  the  larger  area  and  on 
an  even  vaster  scale,  it  is  again  to  be 
adjusted  in  the  manner  most  congenial 
and  most  beneficial  to  the  Slav. 


A  RUSSIAN  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

In  America  we  still  cherish  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine  and  regard  it  as  an  essential 
part  of  our  international  law.  Russia's 
boundaries  in  Asia  stretch  for  more  than 
4,000  miles  along  the  frontiers  of  Asiatic 
states,  and  she  is  vitally  affected  by  the 
conditions,  by  the  disturbances  and  dis- 
orders existing  in  those  states.-  In  com- 
parison, no  other  European  nation  is 
affected  by  them.  By  what  might  be 
called  a  Russian  Monroe  Doctrine,  which 
would  be  as  justifiable  and  as  logical  as 
our  own,  Russia  might  claim  to  be  the 
sole  guardian,  and,  in  necessity,  the 
sole  arbiter  of  her  Asiatic  neighbors. 
Siberia  and  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway 
are  in  time  to  render  such  procedure  a 
fact.  Russia,  not  so  much  pursuing  a 
definite  Eastern  policy  as  fitting  in  to 
the  exigencies  of  her  Eastern  situation, 
has  acted  and  still  acts  in  the  old  hemi- 
sphere exactly  as  the  United  States  have 
acted  and  still  act  in  the  new.  She  has 
simply  conformed  to  the  law  of  her  be- 
ing and  to  the  logic  of  events.  The 
' '  rectification  of  frontiers  ' '  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  more  powerful  has  been 
the  course  which  the  greater  states 
without  exception  have  followed  from 
.  the  beginning  and  will  probably  follow 
to  the  end  of  time.  The  continuous 
history  of  the  United  'States  and  of 
Great  Britain  in  particular  debar  those 
nations  from  drawing  up  indictment 
against  Russian  aggression  in  Manchu- 
ria or  anywhere  else.  Maladministered 
by  the  Chinese  as  far  as  it  has  been  ad- 
ministered at  all,  never  an  integral  part 
of  China  proper,  the  already  virtually 
accomplished  absorption  of  Manchuria 
by  Russia  furthers  the  welfare  and 
prosperity  of  that  province  and  of  the 
Eastern  world. 

RUSSIA  AND  THE  EAST 

The  recent  troubles  in  China  present 
only  an  acute  but  temporary  phase  of  the 


324        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


greater  Eastern  question.  The  smaller 
Eastern  question  centers  upon  the  Bos- 
phorus,  and  is  that  wherein  Constanti- 
nople and  the  Ottoman  Empire  are  in- 
volved. Formerly  it  seemed  to  cover  all 
the  political  sky.  It  is  overshadowed 
today  by  the  problem  of  surpassing  mag- 
nitude still  farther  east.  The  factors 
in  the  greater  Eastern  question  are  vari- 
ous and  many;  yet  there  is  one  factor 
that  dwarfs  them  all.  It  is  Russia  in 
her  expanding,  vivifying  march  across 
Siberia.  With  her,  as  with  no  other 
nation,  goes  what  to  the  Oriental  counts 
more  even  than  armies,  and  that  is  pres- 
tige. Her  only  possible  Asiatic  antag- 
onist is  Japan  ;  but  the  nature  which 
thousands  of  years  have  inwrought  can- 
not be  radically  changed  by  the  signa- 
ture of  a  parchment  or  by  an  act  of  the 
will.  The  Oriental  kisses  not  the  hand 


he  loves  the  dearest,  but  the  hand  he 
fears  the  most.  Despite  the  newly  as- 
sumed garments  of  western  civili/.ation, 
the  Japanese  are  Oriental  to  the  core. 
The  only  European  nation  which  can  a 
all  vie  with  Russia  is  Great  Britain;  bu 
in  such  possible  contest  Russia  woul 
strike  from  near  at  hand  and  Great 
Britain  from  far  away.  Moreover,  not 
only  have  Great  Britain's  hands  been 
tied  and  her  resources  strained,  but  her 
military  renown  has,  as  the  Oriental 
judges,  been  shattered  in  the  South 
African  war.  Divergent  interests  and 
mutual  jealousies  prevent  a  combination 
of  European  powers  under  her  leader- 
ship against  Russia,  such  as  she  was  able 
to  accomplish  against  France  in  the  Na- 
poleonic wars.  From  the  background 
of  Siberia  one  figure  stands  forth  dis- 
tinct— the  triumphant  Slav  ! 


GERMAN  GEOGRAPHERS  AND  GERMAN 

GEOGRAPHY 


BY   MARTHA  KRUG  CENTRE,  PH.  D.,  ANN  ARBOR,  MICHIGAN 


OF  the  countries  that  have  taken 
an  active  part  in  the  develop- 
ment of  geographic  knowledge 
Germany  has  always  ranked  among  the 
foremost.  The  love  of  travel,  of  strange 
adventure,  of  tales  true  and  tales  false 
which  touch  the  imagination,  is  innate 
in  the  Teutonic  race.  It  made  the  north- 
ern Vikings  discoverers  of  America  long 
before  Columbus  ;  it  unveiled  to  them 
the  inhospitable  coasts  of  Greenland  and 
Iceland  ;  it  gave  rise  to  the  first  known 
North  Polar  expedition — the  expedition 
in  ultimam  septentrionis  axent  of  1140 
A.  D.,  of  which  Adam  von  Bremen  has 
left  us  an  account.  Indeed,  we  may 
trace  it  down  even  to  the  recent  travels 
of  the  heroes  of  discovery  of  the  last 
century  ;  for,  unlike  the  explorers  of 


most  other  nations,  the  German  travelers 
were  uninfluenced  by  political  or  eco- 
nomic motives.  It  is  only  within  th 
last  twenty  years  that  Germany  has  be- 
gun to  found  colonies  ;  yet  it  has  n 
been  the  absence  of  the  colonial  spirit  o 
blindness  to  the  advantages  of  coloni/.- 
ation  which  kept  her  in  the  rear.  We 
know  that  when  the  New  World  was  dis- 
covered German  merchants,  the  Fuggers 
of  Augsburg,  then  the  chiefs  of  the  East 
Indian  commerce,  were  quick  to  grasp 
the  possibilities  of  the  situation,  and 
founded  branch  establishments  of  their 
houses  in  Lisbon,  and  in  the  coffee  and 
cocoa  districts  of  South  America ;  but 
the  sad  political  conditions  of  the  empire 
at  that  time  put  an  early  end  to  these 
aspirations,  just  as  it  did  to  the  attempts 


GERMAN  GEOGRAPHERS  AND  GERMAN  GEOGRAPHY      325 


of  the  Great  Elector  one  hundred  years 
later  to  found  colonies  on  the  coast  of 
Guinea  ;  and  so  the  era  which  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  naval  and  commercial 
power  of  all  the  states  of  western  Europe 
proved  to  be  the  ruin  of  that  of  Ger- 
many, since  the  lines  of  trade  which  had 
enriched  it  were  now  forsaken  and  the 
new  ones  were  for  her  unattainable. 

But  so  strong  was  the  vitality  of  the 
geographical  spirit  in  Germany  that 
even  those  sad  times  could  not  quite 
overcome  it.  If  the  nation  could  not 
help  being  cut  off  from  the  actual  pro- 
gress of  discovery,  it  could  partake  in  it 
mentally.  The  eyes  of  German  ob- 
servers followed  the  navigators  and  ex- 
plorers to  the  unknown  lands  across  the 
sea  ;  they  listened  to  the  reports  that 
came  from  there,  and  wrote  them  down 
and  printed  and  propagated  them,  and 
it  seems  that  through  all  the  epoch  of 
the  discoveries  books  of  voyage  and 
travel  were  in  no  country  read  more 
eagerly  than  in  Germany.  Peddlers  sold 
thousands  of  pamphlets  dealing  with 
true  and  false  stories  of  the  fabulous 
countries  of  the  West,  and  German 
Landsknechte  left  their  homes  and  sold 
their  sendees  to  the  Spaniard  and  the 
Portuguese  in  order  to  get  there.  One 
of  these  men,  Ulrich  Schmiedel,  wrote 
an  account  of  his  American  experiences 
which  to  this  day  is  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting sources  for  facts  relating  to  the 
state  of  South  America  at  the  times  of 
the  conquest. 

DAWN  OF  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

With  this  elementary  interest  another 
and  a  higher  interest  went  hand  in  hand. 
From  the  standpoint  of  natural  curiosity 
which  delights  in  the  strange  unknown, 
attention  soon  passed  to  the  examina- 
tion of  the  facts  related,  to  the  putting 
together  and  comparing  of  the  different 
reports,  to  thedistinguishingof  what  was 
true  or  false,  important  or  unimportant, 
to  the  arranging  and  classifying  of  the 


results  obtained.  Undisturbed  by  ma- 
terial and  dynastic  interests  which  in  the 
conquering  countries  directed  attention 
toward  certain  parts  of  the  world,  to  the 
neglect  of  the  rest,  this  quiet  progress 
found  in  Germany  the  best  conditions 
for  development,  and  thus,  while  the 
conquistadores  enriched  their  countries 
with  gold  and  silver,  the  German  geog- 
raphers found  treasures  of  another  kind 
in  discovering,  or  rather  rediscovering, 
the  scientific  conception  of  the  earth's 
face,  the  application  to  the  enlarged 
cosmographical  horizon  of  the  scientific 
geographic  methods  of  antiquity.  In 
one  word,  they  found  the  spirit  of  mod- 
ern scientific  geography.  It  was  in 
Germany  that  the  first  globes  and  charts 
of  the  world  were  made,  that  in  conse- 
quence of  this  a  thorough  reform  of  map- 
drawing  and  projection  took  place,  that 
the  idea  of  the  atlas  was  first  conceived 
and  realized,  that  the  first  modern  de- 
scriptions of  the  world,  and  the  first 
systematic  handbooks  of  general  and 
physical  geography  were  printed. 

BEHAIM 

The  Bavarian,  Johannes  Miiller, 
known  better  as  Regiomontanus  (after 
his  native  city,  Konigsberg  in  Franco- 
nia),  first  thought  of  constructing  an 
earth's  globe  toward  the  end  of  the  fif- 
teenth century  ;  the  idea  was  carried 
out  by  one  of  his  countrymen,  Martin 
Behaim,  of  Nuremberg.  Behaim,  one 
of  the  few  Germans  who  took  an  active 
part  in  the  great  discoveries,  had  ac- 
companied Diego  Cao  on  his  voyage  to 
the  west  coast  of  Africa  in  1484-' 85,  and 
after  his  return  made  the  famous  globe 
still  preserved  in  the  ' '  Germanische 
Museum ' '  at  Nuremberg,  which  has 
brought  down  to  our  days  the  image  of 
how  the  world  was  conceived  in  the 
scientific  mind  immediately  before  the 
discovery  of  America,  for  the  globe 
was  finished  in  1492,  a  few  months  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  Columbus  at  the  land 


326         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


of  promise.  We  see  on  it  distinctly  the 
consequences  of  those  errors  of  Tosca- 
nelli's  chart,  which  made  the  Genoese 
estimate  the  distance  much  shorter  than 
it  really  was,  and  thus  encouraged  their 
daring  enterprise. 

MERCATOR 

In  the  line  of  map-drawing,  Behaiin, 
Regiomontanus,  and  others  undertook 
a  revision  of  the  methods  of  projection. 
Gerhard  Kaufmann,  better  known  as 
Mercator,  invented  a  new  method  spe- 
cially adapted  to  the  wants  of  charts  of 
the  world,  which  is  still  in  use  and  bears 
his  name  as  the  well-known  Mercator 
projection.  It  was  he,  too,  who  after 
another  German,  Ortel,  or  Ortelius,  had 
first  united  into  a  volume  several  maps 
belonging  together,  chose  for  such  a 
collection  the  name  of  Atlas. 

NAME  AMERICA 

I  wonder  whether  all  Americans  are 
aware  of  the  fact  that  even  the  name  of 
their  continent  is  due  to  none  but  a  Ger- 
man scholar  :  In  1 507  Martin  Waldsee- 
muller,alsoknownasHylacomylus,ofSt. 
Die,  in  the  Vosges,  edited  a  book  called 
Cosmographia;  Introdndio ,  in  which  he 
gave  a  translation  of  Amerigo  Vespucci's 
description  of  his  voyages.  That  was 
just  the  time  when  Amerigo's  fame 
filled  the  world,  while  Columbus'  dis- 
grace overshadowed  his  merit,  and  evi- 
dently his  name  had  never  reached  the 
quiet  village  in  the  Vosges  when  Amer- 
igo trumpeted  forth  his  own  glory.  So 
Hylacomylus  proposed  that,  since  the 
new  continent  was,  after  all,  not  a  part 
of  the  Indies,  no  name  would  suit  it 
better  than  that  of  his  famous  explorer, 
Amerigo.  The  book  was  read  far  and 
wide,  and  so  quickly  was  the  proposi- 
tion accepted  that,  when  later  on  the 
true  discoverer  was  known,  the  name 
was  already  rooted  too  deeply  in  general 
use  to  be  abolished,  and  was  even  ex- 
tended to  the  north  part  of  the  continent, 


while  Hylacomylus  had  only  meant  it 
for  Amerigo's  special  stage,  the  present 
South  America. 

EARLY  GEOGRAPHIES 

Another  Cosmographia  appeared  in 
1524,  by  Apianus  (Bennewitz)  ;  the 
Weltbuch  of  Sebastian  Frank,  in  1534; 
in  1544  the  fine  Cosmographia  of  Sebas- 
tian Minister,  and  Merian's  Topographia 
added  to  its  descriptions  the  most  beau- 
tiful engravings,  which  today  still  de- 
light the  eyes  of  the  geographer  as  well 
as  of  the  lover  of  art. 

These  works  of  descriptive  character 
were  followed  by  attempts  at  rational 
investigation.  After  Francis  Bacon  had 
first  pointed  to  the  relations  of  discovery 
and  philosophy,  philosophers  had  never 
quite  lost  sight  of  geography.  The  ques- 
tion of  effects  and  causes  thus  came  into 
it,  the  distinction  of  different  kinds  and 
classes  of  phenomena,  and  their  division 
and  subdivision  into  larger  and  smaller 
groups  ;  the  foundation  of  geographic 
systems,  and  with  it  the  germ  of  the 
scientific  study  of  geography.  Cluve- 
rius'  (Philipp  Kluver,  of  Dantzic)  Intro- 
dudiones  in  geographiam  universam,  in 
1629,  was  the  first  attempt  in  this  line. 
In  1652  followed  Varenius'  (Bernhard 
Varen,  of  Hitzacker-on-the-Elbe)  won- 
derful Geographia  Generates,  in  which 
we  find  the  outlines  of  almost  the  whole 
domain  of  modern  general  geography, 
and  in  1678  the  learned  Jesuit  Athana- 
sius  Kircher  published  his  Mundus  Sub- 
terraneus,  containing,  among  others,  the 
first  chart  of  the  currents  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  of  a  correctness  which  is  mar- 
velous considering  the  little  knowledge 
of  the  time  about  ocean  currents.  Thus, 
though  not  materially  connected  with 
the  great  discoveries  and  conquests, 
Germany  still  held  an  honorable  record 
among  the  fellow-nations,  for  hers  was 
the  intellectual  and  scientific  conquest 
of  the  world  which,  when  the  others  de- 
cayed and  fell,  remained  as  vigorous  as 
before. 


GERMAN  GEOGRAPHERS  AND  GERMAN  GEOGRAPHY     327 


KANT 

One  of  the  most  curious  and  admirable 
types  of  the  learned  German,  who, 
though  shut  out  from  the  world  by 
forces  stronger  than  he,  yet  with  the 
eyes  of  the  soul  surveys  and  knows  the 
whole  world  better  than  many  others 
who  have  had  all  the  advantages  of 
voyage  and  travel,  is  Immanuel  Kant, 
the  philosopher  of  Konigsberg.  The 
work  of  this  unique  man  in  the  develop- 
ment of  geography,  although  through 
his  whole  life  he  never  saw  more  than 
the  environs  of  his  native  city,  must 
never  be  forgotten.  In  his  youth  he 
was  keenly  interested  in  natural  sci- 
ences, and  through  the  reading  of  voy- 
ages and  travels  had  acquired  such  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  geography  that 
during  several  semesters  he  gave  lectures 
on  physical  geography  and  on  anthro- 
pology, in  addition  to  his  philosophical 
lectures,  and  great  was  his  renown  also 
as  an  authority  in  nature  problems.  His 
most  wonderful  work  in  this  line,  how- 
ever, equal  to  the  Critique  of  Pure 
Reason,  is  the  Allgemeine  Naturgesch- 
ichte  und  Theorie  des  Himmels  (General 
natural  history  and  theory  of  the  heav- 
ens), in  which,  forty  years  before  La- 
place, he  exposed  the  formation  of  the 
earth  and  the  solar  system  out  of  a  ro- 
tating ball  of  gas,  as  it  is  now  accepted. 
By  a  singular  mischance  the  manuscript 
was  lost  at  the  printer's,  and  we  know 
of  it  only  through  one  of  Kant's  later 
works,  in  which  he  gives  a  sketch  of  this 
theory.  Thus  the  great  French  mathe- 
matician could  formulate  the  theory 
again  and  enjoy  the  glory  of  being  the 
discoverer  of  the  Nebular  Hypothesis, 
which  he  well  deserves,  as  he  did  not 
know  Kant's  book  ;  but  later  times  have 
rightly  given  this  theory  the  name  of 
the  ' '  Kant-Laplace  Hypothesis. ' ' 

HUMBOLDT 

Like  Kant,  many  of  the  leading  Ger- 
man scientists  of  his  time  were  attracted 


to  geography.  We  may  name  here 
the  brothers  Forster — Georg,  author  of 
Ansichten  vom  Niederrhein,  and  Johann 
Reinhold,  the  companion  of  Cook  on  his 
voyages — Leopold  von  Buch,  the  geolo- 
gist, whose  Voyage  to  Lappland  is  one 
of  the  finest  specimens  of  geographical 
literature,  and,  above  all,  the  great  nat- 
uralist, traveler,  and  geographer,  Alex- 
ander von  Humboldt,  the  scientific  dis- 
coverer of  the  Equinoctial  Regions  of 
the  New  Continent.  In  a  course  of  lec- 
tures which  he  gave  in  later  years  at 
Berlin  and  worked  out  afterward  into 
one  of  his  finest  books,  Kosmos,  or  Out- 
lines of  a  Physical  Description  of  the 
World,  he  delineated  the  subjects  and 
ends  of  geography  in  a  most  remarkable 
way.  To  him  the  thought  first  pre- 
sented itself  that  besides  the  different 
departments  of  the  special  natural  sci- 
ences, there  was  need  of  a  general  one 
which  might  bring  the  isolated  facts  of 
the  others  together  and  trace  out  of  them 
the  general  features  of  the  globe,  or,  as 
he  expresses  it,  "  consider  the  results  of 
scientific  research  in  its  vast  relations 
to  mankind,"  and  "recognize  in  the 
struggles  of  the  elements  that  which  is 
produced  by  a  certain  order  or  law." 
By  this  he  ought  not  to  be  understood 
as  wanting  in  a  philosopher's  way  to 
derive  the  science  of  the  earth  by  ab- 
stract theories  from  some  fundamental 
principles  ;  not  at  all.  His  geography, 
namely,  description  of  the  earth,  was 
"  the  thoughtful  observation  of  the  em- 
pirical phenomena, ' '  and  he  repeats  over 
and  over  again  that  ' '  without  a  serious 
inclination  for  the  knowledge  of  details 
ever)^  large  and  generalizing  conception 
of  the  world  would  be  nothing  but  a 
deceitful  mirage, ' '  but  that  ' '  the  details 
of  natural  discovery  possess  an  innate 
force  of  mutual  fertilization."  Thus 
".the  unity  of  a  physical  description  of 
the  world  is  no  other  but  that  which  is 
found  also  in  the  study  of  history." 
Both  geography  and  history  stand  on 
the  same  empirical  foundation,  but  the 


328         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


thoughtful  observation  of  natural  phe- 
nomena, as  well  as  of  historical  facts, 
must  necessarily  lead  to  the  recognition 
of  an  old  inner  law  dominating  under 
the  perpetual  changes  of  material  and 
intellectual  forces.  The  geography  of 
plants  or  of  animals  is  then  as  different 
from  descriptive  botany  and  zoology  as 
the  geological  knowledge  of  the  earth 
is  from  mineralogy.  His  physical  de- 
scription of  the  world  is  therefore  ' '  not 
to  be  confounded  with  a  so-called  cyclo- 
pedia of  natural  sciences. "  In  it  details 
are  only  studied  in  their  relation  to  the 
whole,  as  parts  of  the  world's  phe- 
nomena, and  the  higher  this  point  of 
view  the  more  this  doctrine  will  become 
capable  of  individual  treatment  and  en- 
livening report. 

RITTER 

By  the  side  of  Humboldt  we  meet 
with  another  man  who,  after  Kant  had 
explained  the  genesis  of  the  earth  and 
Humboldt  had  defined  the  basis  of  the 
scientific  examination  of  its  physical 
conditions,  took  up  the  question  of 
man's  influence  upon  and  relation  to 
geographical  problems :  it  was  Karl 
Ritter,  in  his  Erdkunde  im  Verhaltniss 
zur  Natur  und  Geschichte  des  Menschen 
(Geography  in  relation  to  the  nature 
and  history  of  man).  We  notice  at 
once  that  a  change  in  the  meaning  of 
the  word  geography  has  here  taken 
place.  Hitherto  geography,  according 
to  the  composition  of  the  Greek  root, 
had  always  been  translated  as  ' '  Erd- 
(or  Welt-)  beschreibung ' '  (description 
of  the  earth  or  world),  but  it  is  now 
called  "Erdkunde,"  a  name  which 
may  be  rendered  only  approximately 
by  "  knowledge  of  the  earth."  What 
Ritter  wants  to  express  by  the  choice 
of  the  name  is  that  geography,  whether 
physical  or  political,  is  not  a  descriptive 
discipline,  as  thus  it  would  not  deserve 
the  name  of  a  science,  but  a  subject 
full  of  problems  worthy  of  the  most 
exact  scientific  and  philosophic  discrim- 


ination. It  not  only  imposes  on  the 
student  a  multitude  of  facts  to  be  re- 
membered, but  introduces  him  into  the 
secret  laws  ruling  the  natural  and  polit- 
ical history  of  the  world,  the  precise 
recognition  of  which,  of  their  influence 
on  the  development  of  nature  and  of 
man,  is  the  object  of  geographical 
studies,  without  regard  to  practical 
and  commercial  purposes.  In  the  in- 
troduction to  his  Allgcmcine  Erdkunde 
Ritter  says:  "This  geography  (Erd- 
kunde) is  called  general,  not  because  it 
intends  to  give  everything,  but  because 
it  investigates  with  equal  attention  and 
wtfhout  consideration  of  any  special  ends 
the  characteristics  of  every  part  of  the 
earth  and  every  one  of  its  forms,  whether 
it  lie  in  the  ocean  or  on  the  land,  on  a 
far-away  continent  or  in  our  own  coun- 
try, or  be  the  seat  of  a  cultivated  na- 
tion or  a  desert."  These  words  form  a 
milestone  in  the  development  of  modern 
geography.  They  express  for  the  first 
time  unmistakably  the  program  of  the 
so-called  comparative  geography,  which 
would  be  sorely  misunderstood  if  it  was 
thought  a  method  consisting  princi- 
pally of  questions  like  those  found  in 
so  many  text-books,  ' '  Compare  such 
and  such  city,  river,  boundary,"  which 
is  only  a  more  interesting  way  to  better 
remember  certain  facts.  Such  exer- 
cises are  only  the  rude  framework  of  real 
comparative  geography.  We  may  say 
that  all  comparative  geography  includes 
a  certain  amount  of  comparison,  but  that 
any  geographical  comparison  does  not 
represent  comparative  geography. 

The  results  of  such  elementary  com- 
parison are  the  very  beginning  of  com- 
parative geography.  After  having  ob- 
tained them,  the  real  comparative  work 
only  sets  in  with  inquiring  after  the 
different  causes  which  produce  them 
and  the  different  effects  which  they  pro- 
duce. Then  only  we  shall  be  able  to 
actually  compare  the  character  of  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  globe,  and  dare  to  say 
that  we  know  them.  Of  what  value  is 


GERMAN  GEOGRAPHERS  AND  GERMAN  GEOGRAPHY      329 


it  to  know  the  different  numbers  which 
represent  the  population  of  two  states 
without  knowing  to  what  they  are  due  ? 
You  may  reply,  ' '  The  principal  thing  is 
to  know  the  facts.  The  farmer  and  the 
merchant  little  care  for  causes,  provided 
that  they  know  where  to  find  the  largest 
number  of  customers. ' '  Such  an  answer 
would  be  that  of  a  tradesman,  not  of  a 
scientist.  Moreover,  even  the  business 
man  might  gain  by  studying  the  causes 
of  the  variations  of  the  market.  Now, 
if  such  advantage  is  gained  by  this 
method  even  for  practical  interests,  must 
it  not  be  of  far  greater  consequence  for 
pure  science  ?  For  science  does  not  con- 
fine itself  to  the  wants  of  the  day;  it 
pays  equal  attention  to  all  the  various 
problems,  and  thus,  of  course,  obtains 
far  more  general  and  more  trustworthy 
results.  It  was  this  question  that  Ritter 
first  took  up  most  energetically.  That 
which  makes  geography  a  science,  and 
penetrates  the  work  of  Humboldt  as  it 
did  that  of  Varenius,  shines  out'  with 
perfect  precision,  in  the  words  of  Ritter, 
' '  without  consideration  of  any  special 
ends. ' ' 

PURPOSE  OF  GEOGRAPHY 

He  who  studies  or  teaches  geography 
merely  to  acquire  such  a  knowledge  of 
geographical  facts  as  is  needed  for  trav- 
eling, or  for  the  reading  of  newspapers, 
or  for  business  enterprise,  resembles  the 
jeweler  who  knows  all  the  qualities  of 
the  precious  stones  in  his  store.  He  is 
as  little  a  geographer  as  you  would  call 
such  a  jeweler  a  mineralogist ;  but  as 
surely  as  there  is  a  way  of  knowing 
stones  which  constitutes  a  science  called 
mineralogy,  is  there  a  way  of  knowing 
rivers,  mountains,  and  dwelling-places 
which  deserves  the  name  of  scientific 
geography.  It  is  the  way  in  which  the 
study  is  carried  on  that  makes  the  dif- 
ference. Geography  has  its  value  in 
itself,  and  must  be  studied  through 
itself,  and  for  the  sake  of  itself,  not  for 
secondary  purposes.  If  practical  ad- 


vantage is  also  gained  out  of  it,  so  much 
the  better  ;  but  it  is  not  the  leading 
purpose. 

GERMAN  ACTIVITY  IN  GEOGRAPHY 

This  is  the  Credo  of  German  geog- 
raphy, as  represented  at  twenty  univer- 
sities, many  of  which  possess  quite  a 
staff  of  professors,  ordinary  and  extra- 
ordinary, private  docents,  and  assistants 
in  geography,  together  with  a  complete 
geographical  apparatus  of  books,  peri- 
odicals, maps,  globes,  pictures,  photo- 
graphs, lantern-slides,  and  the  so-called 
"  Geographisches  Seminar"  or  insti- 
tute, where  practical  courses  are  also 
given.  In  a  territory  considerably  less 
than  that  of  Texas,  Germany  has  more 
than  twenty  geographical  societies,  who 
do  valuable  work  in  local  or  general 
geography,  and  send  out  travelers  by 
means  of  special  funds.  They  publish 
scientific  reports  every  year,  and  besides 
these  a  dozen  geographic  periodicals  are 
published  by  divers  editors,  some  of 
which  are  only  equaled  by  the  publica- 
tions of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society 
of  London.  Geography  is  taught  .not 
only  in  primary  schools,  but  in  the 
' '  Gymnasium  ' '  and  high  schools  for 
from  five  to  seven  years,  and  there  is 
now  an  agitation  to  give  it  a  still  wider 
extent  in  these  schools,  and  to  have  it 
taught  from  beginning  to  end  by  teach- 
ers specially  trained  in  the  subject  at  the 
university  ;  for  geography  is  in  the  uni- 
versity studies  a  subject  in  which  one 
can  obtain  a  Ph.  D.  degree  after  three 
or  more  years'  study  on  the  university 
plan,  and  by  the  presentation  of  a  thesis 
on  a  geographical  subject  which  con- 
tains positive  results  of  original  scientific 
research.  This  is  the  present  state  of 
the  movement  started  by  Karl  Ritter 
and  his  school. 

BERGHAUS 

The  pioneer  of  the  new  ideas  was 
Heinrich  Berghaus,  Humboldt' s  friend, 


33°        THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


who  in  his  Lander  und  Vblkerkunde  gave 
the  first  text-book,  or  rather  hand-book, 
composed  after  the  new  principles  ;  but 
more  important  than  this  is  his  Physical 
Atlas,  which  down  to  our  times  has  held 
a  fundamental  and  leading  position  in 
physical  geography,  and  only  recently 
has  been  imitated  in  an  enlarged  size  by 
the  great  physical  atlas  which  is  now 
being  published  in  London.  After  Berg- 
haus,  Oscar  Peschel  became  the  head 
and  the  soul  of  geographic  progress. 
During  more  than  twenty-five  years  he 
edited  one  of  the  best  geographic  peri- 
odicals, the  Ausland,  and  his  books  on 
Physical  Geography,  New  Problems  of 
Comparative  Geography,  Ethnology, 
History  of  Geography,  History  of  the 
Age  of  the  Discoveries,  though  partly 
supplanted  by  more  recent  publications, 
belong  to  this  class  of  scientific  litera- 
ture. 

RICHTHOFEN 

A  new  epoch  was  opened  by  Fer- 
dinand von  Richthofen,  the  explorer 
of  China  and  Peschel' s  successor  in  the 
chair  of  geography  at  the  University  of 
Leipzig.  The  address  which  he  gave  at 
his  inauguration  in  1883,  Uber  Aujgaben 
und  Methoden  der  heutigen  Geographic 
(On  the  problems  and  methods  of  mod- 
ern geography),  became  the  program  of 
modern  geographers,  and  was  indeed  the 
first  critical  and  systematic  survey  of 
the  whole  domain  of  geography.  The 
program  has  been  changed  since  in 
details,  as  all  science  undergoes  con- 
stant change  and  evolution,  but  it  rests 
to  this  day  upon  the  foundation  he  pre- 
sented. 

In  this  treatise  Richthofen  first  de- 
fines the  limits  of  geography,  giving 
as  its  special  field  of  research  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth.  Various  are  the 
phenomena  which  it  offers,  and  which 
have  been  studied  by  various  sciences ; 
but  geographical  work  begins  with  the 
problem  of  location  of  the  different  phe- 
nomena, with  the  question,  Where? 


The  surface  of  the  earth  may  be  con- 
ceived in  a  double  way  :  as  a  mathe- 
matical or  a  material  surface.  In  the 
former  meaning  the  geographer's  work 
consists  in  measuring  the  earth's  extent, 
which  will  lead  him  to  define  and  to 
represent  the  relief  on  maps,  and  to 
subordinate  the  different  results  of  his 
work  to  inherent  laws,  which  will  build 
up  the  morphological  side  of  geogra- 
phy. Then  this  surface  is  also  subject 
to  cosmological  influences;  their  inves- 
tigation will  need  the  assistance  of  as- 
tronomy and  mathematics,  and  is  called 
astronomical  or  mathematical  geogra- 
phy. The  material  surface  is  composed 
of  different  substances,  classed  in  three 
grand  divisions  —  atmosphere,  hydro- 
sphere, and  lithosphere — each  of  which 
consists  of  various  components  in  various 
proportions  at  various  times ;  geography 
must  find  out  the  local  relations  of  the 
multiple  problems  and  phenomena  aris- 
ing from  these  combinations.  To  this 
end  it  needs  the  assistance  of  meteorol- 
ogy, hydrology,  and  geology,  without 
being  itself  one  of  these  sciences,  since 
it  cares  for  them  only  for  the  sake  of  the 
consequences  which  their  phenomena 
produce  in  the  configuration  of  the  sur- 
face. This  is  physical  geography. 

Buttheearth'ssurfaceisnotarigidone. 
It  isconstantly  undergoingchanges  wh  ich 
arise  from  the  different  forms  of  life  ex- 
isting on  it,  and  this  obliges  the  geog- 
rapher to  also  take  the  forms  of  life  in 
consideration.  For  this  he  needs  the 
assistance  of  botany  and  zoology,  which 
again  furnish  him  their  facts  in  order 
that  he  may  stud)-  in  them  the  influ- 
ence of  location,  of  height,  latitude,  con- 
tinental and  marine  surroundings,  etc. 
These  branches  of  geography  are  zoog- 
raphy  and  phytogeography. 

At  last  wre  must  consider  the  influence 
of  man  on  all  the  preceding  phenomena, 
and  their  influence  on  him.  For  this 
purpose  the  geographer  must  consult 
history,  statistics,  sociology,  ethnology, 
and  anthropology.  Out  of  these  invest!- 


GERMAN  GEOGRAPHERS  AND  GERMAN  GEOGRAPHY      331 


gations  he  establishes  the  last  great  sub- 
division— anthropogeography. 

It  is  impossible  in  this  short  review 
to  enter  into  more  than  the  outlines  of 
this  vast  program;  but  even  these  show 
that  we  have  to  deal  here  with  the 
foundation  of  all  geographic  work  of 
the  last  fifteen  years.  From  this  time 
we  must  reckon  the  wonderful  develop- 
ment of  recent  geographic  investigation 
in  Germany,  represented  not  only  by 
the  name  of  Richthofen,  but  by  the 
names  of  Penck,  Suess,  Richter,  Bruck- 
ner, Supan,  Giinther,  Gerland,  Dry- 
galsky,  Hettner,  Phillipson,  and  others. 

It  was  natural  that,  Richthofen  him- 
self having  entered  the  field  of  geog- 
raphy from  the  geologic  side,  those 
branches  of  geography  which  are  most 
closely  connected  \vith  geology  should 
have  been  most  cultivated  by  him  and 
his  followers.  Thus  it  happened  that 
those  geographic  questions  which  are 
related  to  natural  science  received  most 
of  the  advantage  of  the  new  impulse, 
namely,  the  problems  of  physical  geog- 
raphy. It  even  seemed  for  some  time 
as  if  the  idea  of  scientific  geography 
would  be  only  applied  to  this  division, 
as  if  geography  was  nothing  but  a  sub- 
division of  natural  science.  This  opin- 
ion was  even  held  by  a  party  of  the 
geographers  themselves;  but  now,  with 
the  exception  of  a  very  small  minor- 
ity, of  which  Professor  Gerland,  at 
Strassburg,  is  the  most  important  rep- 
resentative, it  may  be  looked  upon  as  a 
past  epoch  in  geographic  evolution. 
Valuable  as  the  study  of  physical  geog- 
raphy is,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  is 
only  a  part  of  geography,  not  geogra- 
phy itself,  and  that  the  topic  most  alive 
in  public  interest,  the  question  of  hu- 
man life,  work,  and  influence  upon  the 
earth's  surface,  the  so-called  political 
geography,  is  just  as  indispensable. 
The  study  of  physical  geography  alone 
would  deal  with  the  earth  as  a  dead 
planet,  a  planet  without  life  or  history. 

This  disproportion  between  the  pro- 


gress of  physical  and  the  backwardness 
of  political  geography  was  naturally  felt 
most  sorely  in  schools,  which  would 
make  the  former  a  very  interesting 
branch  of  teaching,  while  there  was  no 
way  of  learning  the  latter  except  by 
learning  single  facts  by  heart,  since  the 
knowledge  of  these  facts  was  indispen- 
sable after  all.  For  "no  physical  or 
geological  wisdom, ' '  said  then  Professor 
Kirchhoff ,  of  Halle,  one  ot  the  foremost 
men  in  the  progress  of  school  methods, 
' '  will  help  him  who  does  not  know 
whether  Madrid  lies  in  Spain  and  Peters- 
burg in  Russia,  or  vice  versa. ' '  Thus 
necessity  led  geographers  back  quite 
naturally  from  the  overemphasis  of 
physical  geography  to  the  further  pur- 
suit of  Ritter's  ways.  It  was  recog- 
nized that  such  an  important  branch  of 
instruction  must  needs  have  a  scientific 
foundation,  and  that  if  this  foundation 
had  not  yet  been  discovered,  the  reason 
might  be  that  the  right  point  of  view 
had  not  yet  been  taken. 

RATZEL 

This  point  of  view  was  found  and 
Ritter's  method  taken  up  again  with 
the  improvements  of  modern  science  by 
Friedrich  Ratzel,  Richthof en's  successor 
in  the  Leipzig  chair  of  geography.  We 
are  reminded  of  Humboldt's  remarks  on 
the  spirit  of  physical  geography  when 
we  read  Ratzel' s  words:  "The  com- 
plaints of  the  dryness  of  political  geog- 
raphy, as  old  as  geographic  instruc- 
tion itself,  are  heard  again  and  again  in 
our  times.  They  seem  to  be  the  result 
of  lack  in  pedagogic  skill ;  but  the  fault 
lies  deeper,  it  lies  in  the  scientific  treat- 
ment of  political  geography.  For  this 
is  the  cause  of  all  the  difficulties  in  this 
branch  of  instruction,  that  the  facts  of 
political  geography  still  lie  much  too 
rigidly  beside  each  other  and  beside 
those  of  physical  geography.  The  in- 
struction in  this  important  branch  will 
never  be  rendered  interesting  unless  the 


332         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


material  is  cleared  up  by  classification 
and  refined  by  investigations,  paying 
special  attention  to  comparison  and 
evolution."  (Preface  to  the  Political 
Geography. ) 

The  first  attempt  in  this  direction  was 
the  Anthropogeography  (Munich,  1882), 
or  Outlines  of  the  Application  of  Geogra- 
phy to  History.  Although  the  book  was 
not  spared  opposition  from  the  first,  it 
started  a  new  epoch  in  geographic  re- 
search, and  after  various  special  works 
on  the  same  subject,  a  second  volume 
followed  several  years  later.  In  1896  a 
treatise,  Der  Staat  und  sein  Boden,  pub- 
lished in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal 
Saxon  Academy  of  Sciences,  gave  the 
problem  a  still  closer  connection  with 
political  questions,  and  in  1897  the  au- 
thor published  a  new  standard  work, 
containing  the  application  of  the  scien- 
tific method  to  the  very  political  geog- 
raphy which  had  so  long  been  only  a 
list  of  names  and  numbers,  the  Politisrhe 
Geographic.  The  word  political  in  this 
title  stands  for  more  than  a  mere  nom- 
ination ;  the  aim  of  the  book  is  to  de- 
fine the  close  connection  of  politics  and 
geography  in  a  manner  which  makes  it 
valuable  equally  for  the  statesman  and 
for  the  geographer.  The  author  hopes 
it  may  give  the  former  a  better  under- 
standing of  geographical,  the  latter  of 
political,  influences  in  his  sphere  of  in- 
terest, and  thus  awake,  not  only  in 
teachers,  but  in  all  his  readers,  of  what- 
ever condition,  what  he  calls  "  geo- 
graphischen  Sinn,"  geographical  feel- 
ing, just  as  we  speak  of  acquiring  the 
feeling  for  a  language  in  philological 
studies.  To  him,  states  are  organisms 
in  various  stages  of  development,  and 
they  are  made  geographic  organisms  by 
being  most  closely  bound  to  the  soil  on 
which  they  develop,  penetrating  deeper 
and  deeper  into  its  resources.  As  such 
geographic  phenomena  they  can  be 
observed,  described,  measured,  drawn, 
compared  like  every  other  phenomenon 
of  life  on  the  earth.  The  mistake  of 


former  political  and  sociological  theories 
was  that  they  dealt  with  a  too  theoret- 
ical conception  of  the  state — a  stat 
it  were,  which  stands  in  the  air,  and 
which  owns  the  soil  as  a  kind  of  large- 
property.  But  we  must  put  that  airy 
state  on  the  solid  foundation  of  the 
earth,  and  then  we  shall  get  a  living 
conception  of  the  political  side  of  geog- 
raphy. According  to  this  programme, 
the  author  deals  in  nine  chapters  with 
the  following  topics  :  The  State  and  it 
Soil ;  the  Historical  Movement  and  the 
Growth  of  States  ;  Fundamental  Laws 
of  the  Increase  of  the  Area  of  the  State 
Situation ;  Area ;  Boundaries ;  Land  and 
Sea  ;  the  World  of  the  Water  ;  Moun- 
tains and  Plains.  He  presented  one 
year  later  the  application  of  his  princi- 
ples in  the  little  book  entitled  Dentsch- 
land,  which  every  one  who  wishes  to 
obtain  an  idea  of  modern  German  geog- 
raphy should  read. 

WHAT  IS  GEOGRAPHY? 

Geography,  then,  as  carried  on  in  Ger- 
many, is  a  field  of  manifold  studies.  It 
requires  the  knowledge  of  mathematical 
and  physical  geography,  including  map- 
drawing  and  surveying,  oceanography, 
climatology,  geography  of  plants  an 
animals,  anthropogeography,  political 
and  commercial  geography,  history 
geography,  together  with  a  general  a 
quaintance  with  the  cognate  scien 
such  as  geology,  physics,  ethnology 
history,  political  economy,  and  philo; 
phy,  and  also,  if  possible,  with  botany 
zoology,  and  anthropology  ;  but  ov 
this  would  not  yet  make  a  geographer. 
We  must  remember  Humboldt' swords, 
that  geography  is  not  "a  so-called  cy- 
clopedia of  natural  sciences,"  and  that 
from  the  knowledge  which  the  sciences 
impart  we  must  always  proceed  to  the 
consideration  of  the  whole.  The  whole, 
as  shown  in  Ratzel's  Deutschland  and  a 
number  of  similar  publications,  consists 
in  the  application  of  this  general  knowl- 


GERMAN  GEOGRAPHERS  AND  GERMAN  GEOGRAPHY     333 


edge  to  a  certain  region  of  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  the  so-called  "  Lander- 
kunde  "  of  German  geography,  which 
is  no  longer  a  mere  description  of  the 
different  countries,  but  a  scientific  in- 
vestigation of  their  characteristics.  It 
is  quite  significant  that  no  other  lan- 
guage has  an  exact  sj'nonym  of  this 
denomination,  a  fact  which  more  than 
anything  else  shows  that  it  is  a  German 
specialty  of  entirely  German  origin. 
The  "  L,anderkunde,"  so  often  called 
very  inadequately  ' '  descriptive  geog- 
raphy," is  represented  at  German  uni- 
versities, as  well  as  general  and  system- 
atic geography.  Every  professor  will, 
beside  these  courses,  devote  a  large  part 
of  his  time  to  a  single  country  or  conti- 
nent, which  always  is  the  most  inter- 
esting part  of  the  whole  study. 

ELEMENTARY  TEACHING 

In  school  geography  ' '  Landerkunde ' ' 
is  of  course  the  dominant  subject,  to 
which  all  general  geography  has  only  a 
subordinate  and  tributary  relation  ;  for 
to  children's  eyes  we  must  never  pre- 
sent the  dry  and,  to  them,  sterile  facts  of 
systematic  knowledge.  It  is  applied 
science  which  fits  a  child's  understand- 
ing and  rouses  his  interest.  If  we  want 
children  to  pay  attention  to  effects  and 
causes  we  must  let  them  see  things 
and  incidents  in  which  they  operate, 
give  them  a  picture  of  concrete  life,  not 
abstract  reflection.  Now,  in  order  to 
thus  embody  the  principles  of  geogra- 
.phy,  no  better  means  can  be  found  than 
' '  Landerkunde. ' '  A  course  in  geog- 
raphy that  opens  with  a  definition  of 
geography  and  of  the  primary  notions  of 
the  geographic  vocabulary,  and  which 
gives  an  introductory  course  on  the  prin- 
cipal subjects  of  general  physical  geog- 
raphy before  taking  up  the  study  of  a 
definite  part  of  the  earth,  would  not  only 
be  very  unpsychological ,  but  do  also 
the  greatest  harm  to  geography  itself. 
For  to  the  young  learner  who  has  to 


put  such  gereralizations  into  his  brains 
without  enough  knowledge  of  details  to 
make  him  feel  their  general  truth  geog- 
raphy will  appear  nothing  but  a  com- 
plexity of  phrases  to  be  learned  by  heart, 
and  this  preconception  will  cause  him  to 
look  at  all  the  following  geographic 
data  from  a  wrong  position ;  all  the  spe- 
cial facts  will  be  received  by  him  only 
as  illustrations  of  the  preceding  princi- 
ples, just  as  formerly  in  the  teaching 
of  languages  the  spoken  language  ap- 
peared only  as  a  collection  of  examples 
to  apply  grammatical  rules  :  but  this 
was  putting  the  cart  before  the  horse. 
This  same  mistake  has  often  made  geog- 
raphy a  very  dull  subject,  while  it  can 
be  one  of  the  most  interesting,  even  for 
young  minds.  The  secret  of  a  successful 
teacher  of  geography,  as  of  languages, 
is  to  give  the  pupil  a  whole  and  living 
unit,  of  which  his  imagination  may  get 
hold,  and  to  present  the  unit  so  that  he 
will  feel  the  leading  principles  before  he 
has  learned  them  separately.  Thus  their 
necessity  impresses  itself  upon  his  mind 
spontaneously,  instead  of  being  demon- 
strated to  him  as  a  scientific  Credo. 

In  such  a  course  it  is  then  not  per- 
mitted to  treat  a  continent  or  a  state  or 
another  district  first  physically  and 
afterward,  perhaps  a  year  later,  politic- 
ally, or  even,  as  I  have  seen  in  text- 
books, first  politically  and  then  physic- 
ally, or  to  treat  the  subject  by  classifying 
the  details  under  special  headings,  as 
relief,  watershed,  productions,  dwelling- 
places,  etc.,  through  which  the  causal 
connections  are  inevitably  torn  asunder. 
Instead  of  this  the  teacher  will,  after  a 
short  general  survey  of  the  whole,  divide 
it  up  into  a  number  of  smaller  units  or 
natural  regions,  within  which  he  will 
treat  the  different  topics  and  their  mu- 
tual influences  upon  each  other.  He 
will  make,  as  it  were,  a  horizontal  sec- 
tion through  the  vertical  columns  of  the 
topics  named  above,  and  work  out  the 
picture  given  by  each  of  these  sections 
as  an  individual  subject  and  in  its  rela- 


334         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


tions  to  its  neighbors.  After  this  a  short 
historical  sketch,  with  sufficient  refer- 
ence to  the  geographic  conditions  of 
.the  historical  development,  will  furnish 
the  basis  for  an  examination  of  the  po- 
litical contours  of  the  map,  in  which 
much  repetition  of  the  preceding  lessons 
will  come  in.  Reciting  the  geographic 
facts  according  to  special  topics  may  be 
used  as  a  means  of  repetition,  as  a  help 
to  the  pure  memory  of  names,  but  even 
then  must  never  be  done  without  always 
pointing  out  on  the  map  the  location  of 
the  places  mentioned.  It  is,  however, 
absolutely  to  be  condemned  as  a  part  of 
the  lesson,  because  it  kills  the  geographic 
feeling. 

The  first  country  studied  in  this  way 
is,  of  course,  the  native  country,  espe- 
cially the  home  of  the  child  and  its  en- 
virons. This  home  geography  fills  the 
first  year  and  gives  opportunity  to  make 
the  child  acquainted  with  the  prelim- 
inaries of  general  geography,  not  in  a 
systematic,  but  in  an  inductive  way,  and 
to  introduce  it  to  the  thoughtful  use  of 
the  map.  Map-reading  may  be  carried 
on  to  a  very  high  degree  of  perfection, 
and  even  furnish  positive  knowledge  of 
phenomena  which  cannot  be  studied  in 
nature,  if  map-drawing  for  school  pur- 
poses is  done  with  such  perfection  as  in 
Germany,  where  the  principle  that  for 
children  the  best  things  are  just  good 
enough  has  exercised  a  wonderful  in- 
fluence also  in  this  direction.  The  car- 
tographic productions  of  Debes  (Leip- 
zig), Perthes  (Gotha),  and  Reimer  (Ber- 
lin) have  no  peer  in  any  country.  In  a 
German  geography  class,  therefore,  you 
can  observe  that  the  teacher  really  gets 
his  pupils  to  read  the  cartographic  rep- 
resentations like  letters  in  a  book,  to  use 
the  map  as  a  directory  in  walking,  to 
find  their  way  easily  in  unknown  places 
by  the  aid  of  the  map,  and  perhaps  we 
have  here  one  of  the  reasons  why  Ger- 
many more  than  any  other  country  is 
the  home  of  pedestrian  trips  and  of  trav- 
elers' guide-books. 


In  the  second  year  follows  the  study 
of  Germany,  after  this  a  general  survey 
of  the  globe  and  continents,  then  the 
special  study  of  Europe  and  of  the  for- 
eign continents.  It  is  not  until  then 
that  the  systematic  teaching  of  general 
physical  geography  begins,  which  is 
now  indeed  nothing  but  the  repeating, 
putting  together,  completing,  and 
tematizing  of  what  the  pupils  have 
already  learned  in  the  former  grades 
in  an  occasional  and  inductive  way. 
Part  of  the  schools  make  this  the  final 
course  ;  others  take  after  it  a  second 
and  more  advanced  course  of  the  geogra- 
phy of  Germany,  with  special  attention 
to  political,  social,  economic,  commer- 
cial, and  colonial  problems,  for  which 
mature  pupils  are  better  fitted  than  the 
children  of  the  first  German  course. 
Thus  on  leaving  school  they  have  a 
clear  idea  of  the  actual  state  and  con- 
ditions of  the  country  in  whose  life  they 
are  to  participate.  On  the  whole,  the 
average  German  who  does  not  pursue 
higher  studies  will  have  from  seven  to 
nine  years  of  geography,  with  generally 
two  hours  a  week  for  40  weeks  each 
year.  This  makes  about  550  to  700  les- 
sons in  the  whole  course,  or  1 7  per  cent 
of  all  the  instruction  imparted  outside 
the  university. 


WHY  STUDY  GEOGRAPHY? 


It  seems  proper  to  ask  why  German 
educators  lay  so  much  stress  on  geo- 
graphic training.  What  is  the  value 
of  a  thorough  study  of  geography  for. 
education  and  for  life  ? 

There  are,  of  course,  a  number  of 
practical  reasons.  The  knowledge  of 
many  geographic  facts  is  so  necessary 
for  everybody  that  even  when  no  higher 
merit  had  yet  been  found  in  it,  the  study 
of  geography  was  included  at  least  in 
the  schedule  of  primary  schools. 

As  to  scientific  geography,  the  ques- 
tion has  often  seemed  not  very  easy  to 
answer.  It  has  been  objected  that  if 


GERMAN  GEOGRAPHERS  AND  GERMAN  GEOGRAPHY      335 


geography  comprised  all  the  various 
branches  named  above,  it  could  hardly 
be  called  a  science,  but  was  rather  an  ag- 
glomeration of  fragmentary  knowledge 
borrowed  from  a  dozen  other  sciences, 
the  study  of  which  was  an  impossibility 
even  for  a  first-rate  intelligence,  and 
must  needs  lead  to  a  kind  of  half  knowl- 
edge of  everything  which  was  the  very 
contrary  of  scientific  work.  It  has  been 
one  of  the  most  serious  tasks  of  geog- 
raphers to  refute  this  objection  which 
has  been  repeated  most  obstinately  over 
and  over  again,  as  it  arises  from  an  en- 
tire misunderstanding  of  the  geograph- 
ical spirit.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  no 
science  now  known  in  which  one  mind 
can  have  an  equally  complete  command 
of  all  the  subdivisions ;  even  the  greatest 
men  in  medicine,  zoolog)',  history,  etc., 
are  specialists  in  some  definitely  limited 
area,  while  they  merely  keep  up  with  the 
scientific  progress  of  the  rest  and  leave 
other  specialists  to  do  other  special 
work.  Yet  nobody  will  accuse  them 
of  superficiality.  Why  should  not  the 
geographer  enjoy  the  same  privilege  ? 
But  even  if  it  were  possible  for  one 
man  to  have  a  perfect  and  up-to-date 
knowledge  of  all  knowledge  connected 
with  geography,  that  would  not  make 
him  a  geographer.  Geography  is  not 
a  ' '  cyclopedia  ' '  of  all  the  enumerated 
sciences.  That  is  the  point  where  er- 
roneous judgments  on  geography  gen- 
erally start.  It  is  not  the  number  and 
character  of  the  facts  which  constitute 
geography,  but  the  ways  and  methods 
in  which  they  are  studied.  This  is 
what  makes  the  geographic  spirit  and 
what  gives  geography  the  character  of 
a  separate  science  apart  from  all  the 
others,  however  closely  connected  with 
them  in  many  points. 

Thus,  for  example,  the  physicist  may 
study,  describe,  and  explain  the  devia- 
tion of  the  compass  or  the  differences  of 
temperature  of  the  atmosphere  ;  but  the 
geographer  (Humboldt)  will  locate  on 
the  map  the  points  of  observations  and 


connect  equal  observations  by  lines,  and 
from  the  arrangement  of  these  lines  draw 
conclusions  as  to  the  influence  of  mag- 
netism or  temperature  upon  the  surface 
of  the  earth  ;  or  the  statesman  will  draw 
and  claim  boundaries  for  the  state  which 
he  represents  for  such  and  such  reasons  ; 
the  geographer  will  look  at  and  compare 
the  boundaries  of  the  states  in  different 
parts  of  the  world,  find  out  the  laws  act- 
ive in  their  formation,  tell  us  why  cer- 
tain boundaries  have  always  been  objects 
of  contention  while  others  never  were 
disputed,  and  explain  the  present  bound 
aries,  their  origin,  and  their  importance 
for  the  life  of  the  nations  ( Ratzel )  ;  or 
the  geologist  will  study  and  explain  the 
different  strata  of  the  earth's  crust  ;  the 
geographer  (Bruckner)  will  examine 
their  distribution  over  the  surface  of  the 
globe,  compare  it  with  the  present  ar- 
rangement of  mountain  ranges,  and  ex- 
plain out  of  the  geologic  past  the  fea- 
tures of  the  geographic  present.  In 
whatever  problem  the  geographer  may 
be  interested,  the  object  of  his  investiga- 
tion must  be  connected  with  the  earth, 
the  earth's  surface  as  a  whole  and  as 
the  primary  unit.  However  interesting 
may  be  the  object  of  his  special  research, 
he  cannot  allow  himself  to  be  entirely 
confined  to  it  without  ceasing  to  be  a 
geographer. 

POINT  OF  VIEW 

The  poet  Jean  Paul  says  :  ' '  There  are 
two  ways  of  enjoying  the  world.  One 
is  to  lie  down  in  the  grass,  look  at  the 
green  stalks  and  pretty  flowers  about 
you,  watch  the  humming  insects,  and 
thus  fondly  take  in  all  the  wonderful 
revelations  of  life  which  present  them- 
selves in  this  seclusion.  The  other  is 
to  rise  up  high  in  the  air  like  a  bird,  so 
high  that  all  the  little  and  mean  things 
vanish  from  your  view,  and  you  only 
behold  the  whole  of  the  great,  wonder- 
ful creation  beneath  you. ' ' 

In  geography  both  methods  are  com- 
bined. By  the  peculiar  character  of  its 


336 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


procedure,  which  requires  a  scrupulous 
examination  of  the  detail,  together  with 
a  wide  survey  of  generality,  it  exchanges 
constantly  the  small  circle  of  special 
research  and  the  wide  field  of  general- 
ization. Must  not  such  a  change  be- 
tween restriction  and  expansion  be  most 
helpful  ?  It  is  a  fact  that  the  type  of 
the  learned  specialist  who  is  almost  a 
stranger  to  the  problems  beyond  the 
limits  of  his  own  work  is  in  no  field  so 
rare,  if  not  so  totally  absent,  as  in  geog- 
raphy. The  broadest-minded  people  of 
the  fine  staff  of  German  scientists,  the 
most  alive  to  the  interests  of  the  world 
about  them,  are  met  with  among  the  pro- 
fessors of  geography.  Geography  forces 
its  apostles  to  keep  constantly  apace 
with  all  the  progress  around  them.  In 
no  other  field  of  study  would  the  neglect 
of  almost  any  question  of  the  day,  sci- 
entific or  not,  prove  more  fatal  than 
here.  The  introduction  of  the  study  of 
geography  into  the  universities,  there- 
fore, is  a  powerful  ally  to  keep  the  stu- 
dents from  becoming  narrow  in  their 
views,  from  looking  no  further  than  the 
small  circle  within  which  the  axis  of 
their  own  special  interests  rotates.  It 
will  make  them  tolerant  by  teaching 
them  to  understand  different  conditions, 
and  to  make  allowance  for  different  con- 
sequences arising  from  these  different 
conditions.  It  will  make  them  wise  and 
successful  in  contact  with  political  ques- 
tions, because  the)'  will  not  expect  nor 
exact  from  foreign  nations  more  than 
they  can  afford,  according  to  their  actual 
state  and  circumstances. 


Geography,  more  than  almost  any 
other  science,  has  the  power  to  enrich 
the  lives  of  those  who  devote  themselves 
to  its  study.  The  botanist  may  teach 
you  the  secrets  of  the  life  of  trees  and 
plants,  the  zoologist  introduce  you  into 
the  interesting  ways  and  habits  of  many 
a  little  fellow-creature,  the  geologist 


open  your  eyes  for  the  charms  of  tracii 
the  history  of  the  soil  which  you  treac 
but  none  gives  you  such  an  entire  am 
satisfactory  feeling  of  nature  as  geog- 
raphy. It  is  the  entirety  of  the  impix-— 
sion  upon  which  stress  ought  to  be  laid. 
The  natural  disposition  of  the  average 
mind  goes  to  the  whole.  Even  a  _ 
botanist  or  other  scientist  will  be  >]•«.-- 
cially  interested  only  in  part  of  what  sur- 
rounds him,  be  it  plants  or  animals  or 
stones,  sometimes  even  only  in  a  certain 
class  or  family  of  them.  Geography 
teaches  you  to  enjoy  nature  as  a  whole. 
It  tells  you  why  the  soft  lines  of  this 
mountain  range,  covered  with  dark  firs, 
slope  so  gently  down  to  the  valley,  while 
yonder  ice-capped  summits  tower  up 
steep  and  bold  to  the  sky.  It  shows 
you  why  here  waving  cornfields  reward 
the  farmer's  labor,  and  why  another  re- 
gion seems  to  be  one  enormous  meadow. 

Geography   will   contribute,    too,    to 
improve  the  character  and  adorn  the 
life  of  the  student.     It  will  make  him 
feel   familiar  and  at   home  on  alni( 
every  spot  of  the  earth  ;  nowhere  wil 
he  stand  criticising  and  complaining 
what  is  different  from  his  native  plat 
but  appreciate  the  differences  of  natior 
ality,  and  instead  of  repining  for  wh; 
cannot  be  changed,  come  home  enrichc 
by  the  touch  of  many  a  string  in  hi* 
heart  which  would  never  have  resound* 
under  other  circumstances.    In  the  char- 
acter of  the  German  nation  we  see  thi.- 
side  highly  developed,  too  highly  even 
from  certain  points  of  view.     The  read- 
iness with  which  the  German  adopt 
foreign  customs  when  he  goes  abroad, 
as  well  as  when   they  are  brought  tc 
him,  the  facility  with  which  as  an  im- 
migrant  he   accommodates  himself   tc 
the  conditions  of  his  new  home  is  ii 
great  measure  due  to  his  highly  devel- 
oped feeling  of  geographic  equity, 
reasonable  portion  of  it  added  to  na- 
tional character  would  be  an  improve 
ment  for  many  races. 

Political  geography,  especially,  mi 


THE   DRIFT   OF   FLOATING   BOTTLES 


337 


not  be  forgotten  when  we  deal  with  the 
advantages  of  geography.  Much  infor- 
mation of  high  value  is  offered  through 
it  to  the  student.  Economic  and  social 
problems,  questions  of  government  and 
constitution,  which  when  treated  in  an 
abstract  and  theoretical  way  will  often 
fall  short  of  the  understanding,  as  well 
as  of  the  interest  of  young  brains,  find 
here  wonderful  material  for  exemplifi- 
cation, object-lessons  in  public  life,  poli- 


tics, economy,  and  sociology.  Enormous 
treasures  lie  hidden  here,  waiting  only 
for  the  right  digger  to  discover  them. 
In  a  country  where  interest  in  public 
affairs  is  so  strong  as  in  this  great  Re- 
public, this  duty  of  the  schools  should  be 
cherished  most  conscientiously.  Geog- 
raphy should  be  given  the  place  which 
it  deserves,  not  only  in  elementary  in- 
struction, but  also  in  all  high  schools 
and  universities. 


THE    DRIFT    OF    FLOATING    BOTTLES    IN 
THE    PACIFIC   OCEAN 


BY  JAMES  PAGE,  U.   S.   HYDROGRAPHIC  OFFICE 


AMONG  the  various  investigations 
carried  on  by  the  U.  S.  Hydro- 
graphic  Office,  there  is  one  which 
has  always  excited  greater  or  less  pop- 
ular interest,  owing  probably  to  the  fact 
that  it  lies  within  the  power  of  any  one 
who'is  at  sea,  and  who  is  likewise  gifted 
with  a  reasonable  amount  of  curiosity 
and  the  leisure  time  to  gratify  it,  to  con- 
tribute toward  the  end  in  view.  This 
particular  field  of  research  is  the  inves- 
tigation of  the  surface  currents  of  the 
sea  by  means  of  the  knowledge  obtained 
through  the  drift  of  floating  bottles,  or, 
as  it  is  familiarly  known,  the  drift  of 
bottle  papers.  The  apparatus  required 
is  not  extensive.  The  date,  the  lati- 
tude, and  the  longitude  of  the  vessel  at 
any  given  time  are  written  upon  a  piece 
of  paper  ;  this  paper  is  then  placed  in 
an  empty  bottle  of  whatever  character 
is  nearest  to  hand  ;  the  bottle  is  then 
corked  and  sealed  and  cast  into  the  sea. 
After  the  lapse  of  time,  sometimes  of 
years,  certain  of  these  bottles  find  their 
way  to  the  coasts  of  the  adjacent  con- 
tinents or  islands,  and  the  papers  con- 
tained in  them  ultimately  reach  the  U.S. 
Hydrographic  Office. 


The  office  assists  in  the  investigation 
to  the  extent  of  furnishing  the  pieces  of 
paper.  These  are  prepared  in  blocks, 
and  are  distributed  free  of  charge  to  the 
masters  of  vessels  who  promise  to  under- 
take the  task  of  casting  them  adrift — a 
promise  which,  the  results  prove,  is 
rarely  violated.  The  paper  is  printed 
in  seven  languages  in  order  that  it  may 
be  readily  understood,  no  matter  upon 
what  coast  it  ultimately  lands.  The 
first  part,  which  is  to  be  filled  in  by  the 
person  who  casts  it  adrift,  contains  a 
space  for  the  name  of  that  person,  for  the 
name  of  the  vessel,  the  date,  the  latitude, 
and  the  longitude ;  the  second  part, 
which  is  to  be  filled  in  by  the  discoverer 
of  the  bottle,  a  space  for  the  name  of  the 
finder,  the  date,  and  the  locality  in  which 
it  is  found.  At  the  bottom  of  the  paper 
the  finder  is  instructed,  in  seven  lan- 
guages, to  return  the  paper  to  the  U.  S. 
Hydrographic  Office. 

Several  hundred  of  these  papers  find 
their  way  back  each  year,  the  great  ma- 
jority of  those  which  are  returned  hav- 
ing been  cast  adrift  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  and  charts  have  from  year  to 
year  appeared  showing  the  drift  of  bot- 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


ties  in  that  ocean.  These  charts  all 
unite  in  showing  a  steady  easterly  drift 
in  the  temperate  latitudes  of  both  the 
North  and  the  South  Atlantic,  and  an 
equally  steady  westerly  drift  in  the 
tropical  latitudes,  the  generalized  cur- 
rent system  of  either  ocean  thus  consist- 
ing of  a  vast  eddy  about  some  central 
point,  the  direction  of  the  circulation  be- 
ing anti-cyclonic  in  either  hemisphere — 
/.  e.,  with  the  diurnal  motion  of  the  sun, 
as  observed  in  that  hemisphere,  just  as 
in  the  case  of  the  prevailing  winds. 

Taken  collectively,  the  lines  of  drift 
of  floating  bottles  in  the  Pacific  again 
show,  precisely  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  that  the  general  direc- 
tion of  the  drift  is  eastward  in  the  higher 
latitudes,  westward  in  the  lower.  At 
least  this  is  so  for  the  North  Pacific. 
For  the  South  Pacific  evidence  of  the 
eastward  motion  of  the  extratropical 
waters  is  lacking.  None  of  the  drifts 
reveal  the  existence  of  the  equatorial 
counter-current  flowing  eastward  be- 
tween the  westward-moving  equatorial 
currents  of  the  southern  and  northern 
hemispheres.  The  average  velocity  of 
the  easterly  drifts  is  4.4  miles  per  day, 
of  the  westerly  drift  10  miles  per  day,  or 
more  than  twice  as  great,  which  is  again 
in  accordance  with  the  results  for  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  The  highest  velocity 
attained  was  that  of  a  bottle  thrown 
overboard  from  the  steamer  Warrintoo 
January'  23,  1897,  i*1  latitude  4°  N., 
1 68°  W.,  and  found  March  6,  1897,  on 
one  of  the  Gilbert  Islands,  having  drifted 
1,100  miles  in  42  days,  or  at  an  average 
rate  of  26  miles  per  day.  None  of  these 
velocities  makes  any  allowance  for  the 
time  during  which  the  bottle  may  have 
lain  undiscovered  on  the  beach.  The 
longest  drift  was  that  of  a  bottle  which 
was  thrown  overboard  near  Cape  Horn 
June  1 8,  1896,  and  found  near  Cape 
York,  on  the  northern  coast  of  Queens- 
land, Australia,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly 
three  years.  The  shortest  practicable 
route  which  it  could  have  pursued  meas- 


ures 10,100  miles  in  length,  or  nearly 
two-thirds  of  the  total  distance  around 
the  earth  in  the  latitude  of  its  path. 
giving  an  average  velocity  of  10.  i  miks 
per  day.  The  actual  distance  traversed 
was  probably  much  greater  than  this. 

My  main  object  in  directing  attention 
to  these  drifts  is  to  suggest  the  idea  that 
they  illustrate  an  apparent  paradox. 
The  bottles  themselves  float  upon  the 
surface,  but  if  I  were  asked  whether  the 
lines  drawn  upon  a  chart  to  show  their 
course  represented  the  surface  currents 
of  the  sea,  the  currents  with  which  the 
navigator  has  to  deal,  I  should  say  em- 
phatically no.  The  actual  surface  cur- 
rents present  no  such  uniformity,  either 
in  direction  or  velocity.  As  an  example 
of  this,  take  the  currents  actually  ob- 
served in  the  five-degree  square  of  the 
North  Atlantic  Ocean  bounded  by  the 
parallels  35  to  40  degrees  north  and  the 
meridians  65  to  70  degrees  west  (off  the 
coast  from  Hatterasto  Sandy  Hook  >,  in 
the  heart,  therefore,  of  what  is  ordina- 
rily known  as  the  Gulf  Stream,  concern- 
ing which  the  popular  impression  is  that 
it  flows  along  steadily  like  a  mighty 
river.  For  any  given  month,  say  Sep- 
tember, the  currents  actually  observed 
within  this  square  were  as  follows  : 

Setting  northeast,  32  per  cent  of  t lie- 
whole  number  of  observations  ranging 
from  6  to  70  miles  in  24  hours. 

Setting  southeast,  23  per  cent  of  the 
whole  number  of  observations  ranging 
from  8  to  65  miles  in  24  hours. 

Setting  southwest,  27  per  cent  of  the 
whole  number  of  observations  ranging 
from  6  to  76  miles  in  24  hours. 

Setting  northwest,  18  per  cent  of  the 
whole  number  of  observations  ranging 
from  9  to  63  miles  in  24  hours. 

Evidently  here  there  is  none  of  the 
uniformity  presented  by  the  drifts  and 
which  the  mind  ordinarily  associates 
with  the  Gulf  Stream. 

To  get  at  the  true  meaning  of  these 
lines  of  drift  beyond  the  fact  that  they 
represent  the  resultant  of  the  traverse 


THE    DRIFT   OF    FLOATING    BOTTLES 


339 


line  pursued  by  the  bottle  in  its  journey, 
it  is  necessary  to  go  back  to  the  motive 
power  which  gives  rise  to  the  surface 
currents  of  the  sea,  viz. ,  the  winds.  A 
perfectly  steady  wind  acting  continu- 
ously on  the  surface  of  the  sea  will, 
through  friction,  give  rise  to  a  move- 
ment of  the  surface  waters  in  the  same 
direction  as  the  wind  itself.  If  the  lat- 
ter continues  for  a  sufficient  length  of 
time  the  impulse,  first  felt  only  at  the 
surface,  will  gradually  communicate 
itself  downward,  owing  to  the  viscosity 
of  the  water,  and  the  lower  strata  to  a 
successively  greater  and  greater  depth 
will  thus  partake  of  the  movement  until 
it  is  finally  shared  by  the  whole  mass, 
the  velocity  of  the  motion  diminishing 
as  the  depth  increases.  The  rate,  how- 
ever, at  which  this  motion  is  communi- 
cated to  the  depths  of  the  ocean  is  ex- 
ceedingly slow.  It  has,  for  instance, 
been  estimated  that  in  a  depth  of  2,000 
fathoms  a  surface  current  of  given  ve- 
locity would  require  a  period  of  200,000 
years  to  transmit  its  due  proportion  of 
this  velocity  to  a  point  halfway  toward 
the  bottom.  Similarly,  when  once  es- 
tablished, these  submarine  currents 
exhibit  a  corresponding  reluctance  to 
undergo  any  variation  in  direction  or 
intensity.* 

Perfectly  steady  winds,  however,  do 
not  exist,  even  in  the  region  of  the 
trades.  The  winds  are  constantly 

*Z6pprits,  Annalen  d.  Hydrographie,  1878. 


changing,  and  the  surface  currents 
change  with  them.  The  lower  strata 
of  the  ocean,  however,  are  insensible  to 
these  changes,  and  at  a  considerable 
distance  below  the  surface  the  waters 
of  the  ocean  have  probably  a  slow  but 
perfectly  uniform  motion,  the  direction 
of  the  motion  probably  agreeing  closely 
with  that  of  the  resultant  surface  winds. 

We  have,  therefore,  in  the  body  of  the 
sea  two  distinct  sets  of  currents  ;  first, 
those  at  the  immediate  surface,  which 
move  practically  at  the  obedience  of  the 
surface  winds,  sometimes  in  one  direc- 
tion, sometimes  in  another :  second, 
those  of  the  lower  strata,  which  are 
constant  in  direction  and  velocity  and 
represent  the  aggregate  effect  of  the 
winds  that  have  blown  for  ages  past, 
the  sea  in  this  respect  furnishing  a  close 
analogy  to  the  atmosphere,  the  motion 
of  the  lower  strata  of  which  is  con- 
stantly disturbed,  while  that  of  the 
higher  strata,  as  shown  by  the  motion 
of  the  cirrus  clouds,  is  comparatively 
uniform. 

It  is  the  motion  of  these  lower  strata, 
as  I  take  it,  that  the  uniform  paths  pur- 
sued by  these  drifting  bottles  to  some 
extent  represent,  and  it  is  the  evidence 
contained  in  them  that  should  be  studied 
in  investigations  dealing  with  the  cur- 
rents of  the  ocean  in  their  entirety, 
rather  than  the  evidence  obtained  from 
any  given  set  of  current  measurements 
made  at  or  near  the  surface  and  for 
some  given  point. 


THE   BRITISH   ANTARCTIC   EXPEDITION 


THE  Discovery,  carrying  the  British 
National  Antarctic  expedition, 
is  now  well  on  her  way  to  South 
Polar  regions.     The  proposed  work  of 
the  party  has  been  carefully  outlined  by 
the  presidents  of  the  Royal  Society  and 
of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  in 
their  instructions  to  Captain  Scott  and 


to  Dr.  George  Murray,  the  scientific 
director.  The  instructions  to  the  com- 
mander are  as  follows  : 

i.  The  Royal  Society  and  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  His  Majesty's  Government,  have 
fitted  out  an  expedition  for  scientific  dis- 
covery and  exploration  in  the  Antarctic 


34°         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


regions,  and  have  entrusted  you  with 
the  command. 

2.  The  objects  of  the  expedition  are  : 
(a  )  to  determine,  as  far  as  possible,  the 
nature, condition,  and  extent  of  that  por- 
tion of  the  South  Polar  lands  which  is 
included  in  the  scope  of  your  expedition, 
and  (6)  to  make  a  magnetic  survey  in 
the  southern  regions  to  the  south  of  the 
40th  parallel,  and  to  carry  on  meteoro- 
logical, oceanographic,  geological,  bio- 
logical, and  physical  investigations  and 
researches.     Neither  of  these  objects  is 
to  be  sacrificed  to  the  other. 

3.  The  scientific  work  of  the  execu- 
tive officers  of  the  ship  will  be  under  your 
immediate  control,  and  will  include  mag- 
netic and  meteorological  observations, 
astronomical    observations,     surveying 
and  charting,  and  sounding  operations. 

4.  Associated  with  you,   but   under 
your  command,  there  will  be  a  civilian 
scientific  staff,  with  a  director  at  their 
head.     A  copy  of  his  instructions  ac- 
companies these  instructions  to  you. 

5.  In  all  questions  connected  with  the 
scientific  conduct  of  the  expedition  you 
will,  as  a  matter  of  course,  consider  the 
director  as  your  colleague,  and  on  all 
these  matters  you  will  observe  such  con- 
sideration in  respect  to  his  wishes  and 
suggestions  as  may  be  consistent  with  a 
due   regard  to   the  instructions  under 
which  you  are  acting,  to  the  safe  navi- 
igation  of  the  ship,  and  to  the  comfort, 
health,   discipline,  and  efficiency  of  all 
under  your  command.     Those  friendly 
relations  and   unreserved   communica- 
tions should  be  maintained  between  you 
which  will   tend   so   materially  to  the 
success  of  an  expedition  from  which  so. 
many  important  results  are  looked  for. 

6.  As  the  scientific  objects  of  the  ex- 
pedition   are   manifold,  some  of   them 
will  come  under  the  immediate  super- 
vision  of   the  director   and  his   staff  ; 
others  will  depend  for  their  success  on 
the  joint  cooperation  of  the  naval  and 
civil  elements,  while  some  will  demand 
the  undivided  attention  of  vourself  and 


your  officers.  Upon  the  harmonious 
working  and  hearty  cooperation  of  all 
must  depend  the  result  of  the  ex^di- 
tion  as  a  whole. 

7.  The  expedition  will   be   supplied 
with  a  complete  set  of  magnetic  instru- 
ments, both  for  observations  at  sea  and 
on   shore.     Instructions    for  their  use- 
have  been  drawn  up  by  Captain  Creak , 
R.  N. ,  and  yourself  and  three  of  your 
officers  have  gone  through  a  course  of 
instruction  at   Deptford  with   Captain 
Creak  and  at  Kew  Observatory.     The 
magnetic  observatory  on  board  the  Dis- 
covery has  been    carefully  constructed 
with    a  view  to   securing   it    from  any 
proximity  to  steel  or  iron,  and  this  has 
involvel  considerable  expense  and  some 
sacrifice  in  other  respects.     We  there- 
fore impress  upon  you  that  the  greatest 
importance  is  attached  to  the  series  of 
magnetic  observations  to  be  taken  under 
your  superintendence,    and   we   desire 
that  you  will  spare  no  pains  to  ensure 
their  accuracy  and  continuity.   The  base 
station  for  your  magnetic  work  will  be  at 
Melbourne  or  at  Christchurch,  in  Xe\v 
Zealand.     A  secondary  base  station  is 
to  be  established  by  you,  if  possible,  in 
Victoria  Land.     You  should  endeavor 
to  carry  the  magnetic  survey  from  the 
Cape  to  your  primary  base  station,  south 
of  the  4Oth  parallel,  and  from  the  same 
station  across  the  Pacific  to  the  meridian 
of  Greenwich.     It  is  also  desired  that 
you  should  observe  along  the  tracks  of 
Ross,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  magnetic 
changes  that  have  taken  place  in  the 
interval  between  the  two  voyages. 

8.  Geographical  discovery  and  scien- 
tific explorati&n  by  sea  and  land  should 
be  conducted  in  two  quadrants  of  the 
four  into  which  the  Antarctic  regions 
are  divided  for  convenience  of  reference, 
namely,   the  Victoria  and    Ross   quad- 
rants.    It  is  desired  that  the  extent  of 
land  should  be  ascertained  by  following 
the  coast  lines,  that  the  depth  and  na- 
ture of  the  ice  cap  should  be  investi- 
gated, as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  vol- 


THE    BRITISH   ANTARCTIC    EXPEDITION 


341 


canic  region,  of  the  mountain  ranges, 
and  especially  of  an)r  fossiliferous  rocks. 

9.  A  German  expedition  will  start  at 
the  same  time  as  the  Discovery,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  there  will  be  cordial  cooper- 
ation between  the   two  expeditions  as 
regards  magnetic  and  meteorological  ob- 
servations, and  in  all  other  matters  if 
opportunities  offer  for  such  cooperation. 
It  is  understood  that  the  German  expedi- 
tion will  establish  an    observatory  on 
Kerguelen  Island,  and  will  then  proceed 
to  explore  the  Enderby  quadrant,  prob- 
ably shaping  a  course  south  between  the 
70°  E.  and  80°  E.  meridians,  with  the  ob- 
ject of  wintering  on  the  western  side  of 
Victoria  Land,  whence  exploring  sledge 
parties  will  be  sent  inland.     The  gov- 
ernment of  the  Argentine  Republic  has 
undertaken  to  establish  a  magnetic  ob- 
servatory on  Staten  Island. 

10.  You  will  see  that  the  meteorolog- 
ical  observations   are   regularly   taken 
every  two  hours,  and,  also,  in  accord- 
ance with  a  suggestion  from  the  Berlin 
committee,    every    day    at    Greenwich 
noon.     It  is  very  desirable  that  there 
should,  if  possible,  be  a  series  of  meteor- 
ological observations  to  the  south  of  the 
74th  parallel. 

1 1 .  As  regards  magnetic  work  and 
meteorological   observations  generally, 
you  will  follow  the  program  arranged 
between  the  German  and  British  com- 
mittees, with  the  terms  of  wrhich  you 
are  acquainted. 

12.  Whenever  it  is  possible,  while  at 
sea,  deep-sea  sounding  should  be  taken 
with  serial  temperatures,  and  samples 
of  sea  water  at  various  depths  are  to  be 
obtained    for    physical    and    chemical 
analysis.     Dredging   operations  are  to 
be  carried  on  as  frequently  as  possible, 
and  all  opportunities  are  to  be  taken 
for   making   biological    and   geological 
collections. 

13.  Instructions  will  be  supplied  for 
the  various  scientific  observations  ;  and 
the  officers  of   the  expedition   will  be 
furnished  with  a  manual,  prepared  and 


edited  by  Dr.  George  Murray,  on  sim- 
ilar lines  and  with  the  same  objects  as 
the  scientific  manuals  supplied  to  the 
Arctic  expedition  of  1875. 

14.  On  leaving  this  country  you  are 
to  proceed-  to  Melbourne,  or  Lyttelton 
(Christchurch),  New  Zealand,  touching 
at  any  port  or  ports  on  the  way  that 
you  may  consider  it  necessary  or  desir- 
able to   visit   for  supplies  or    repairs. 
Before  leaving   your  base  station  you 
will  fill  up  with  live  stock,  coal,  and 
other  necessaries,  and  you   will   leave 
the  port  with  three  years'  provisions  on 
board,  and  fully  supplied  for  wintering 
and  for  sledge-traveling. 

15.  You  are  to  proceed  at  once  to  the 
edge  of  the  pack  and  to  force  your  ves- 
sel through  it  to  the  open  water  to  the 
south.     The   pack   is    supposed   to   be 
closer  in   December   than    it   has  been 
found  to  be  later  in  the  season.     But 
this  is  believed  to  depend  rather  on  its 
position  than  on  the  time,  and  the  great 
difference  between  a  steamer  and  a  sail- 
ing vessel  perhaps  makes  up  for  any 
difference  in  the  condition  of  the  pack. 

1 6.  On  reaching  the  south  water  you 
are  at  liberty  to  devote  to  exploration 
the   earlier    portion   of    the   navigable 
season  ;  but  such  exploration  should,  if 
possible,  include  an  examination  of  the 
coast  from  Cape  Johnson  to  Cape  Cro- 
zier,  with  a  view  to  finding  a  safe  and 
suitable  place  for  the  operations  of  land- 
ing in  the  event  of  your  deciding  that 
the  ship  shall  not  winter  in  the  ice. 

The  chief  points  of  geographical  in- 
terest are  as  follows  :  To  explore  the  Ice 
Barrier  of  Sir  James  Ross  to  its  eastern 
extremity,  to  discover  the  land  which 
was  believed  by  Ross  to  flank  the  barrier 
to  the  eastward  or  to  ascertain  that  it 
does  not  exist,  and  generally  to  endeavor 
to  solve  the  very  important  physical  and 
geographical  questions  connected  with 
this  remarkable  ice  formation. 

17.  Owing    to    our    very    imperfect 
knowledge  of  the  conditions  which  pre- 
vail  in  the  Antarctic  seas,  we  cannot 


342         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


pronounce  definitely  whether  it  will  be 
necessary  for  the  ship  to  make  her  way 
out  of  the  ice  before  the  winter  sets  in 
or  whether  she  should  winter  in  the 
Antarctic  regions.  It  is  for  you  to  de- 
cide on  this  important  question  after  a 
careful  examination  of  the  local  condi- 
tions. • 

1 8.  If  you  should  decide  that  the  ship 
shall  winter  in  the  ice,  the  following  in- 
structions are  to  be  observed  : 

a.  Your  efforts,  as  regards  geograph- 
ical exploration,  should  be  directed,  with 
the   help  of   depots,  to   three   objects, 
namely,  an  advance   into   the  western 
mountains,  an  advance  to  the  south,  and 
the  exploration  of  the  volcanic  region. 

b.  The  director  and  his  staff  shall  be 
allowed  all  facilities  for  the  prosecution 
of  their  researches. 

c.  In  carrying  out  a  and  b  due  regard 
is  to  be  had  to  the  safety  and  require- 
ments of  the  expedition  as  a  whole. 

d.  You  have  been  provided   by  Sir 
Leopold  McClintock  and  by  Dr.  Nansen 
with  complete  details  respecting  sledge- 
work  both  by  men  and  dogs,  and  you 
have  yourself  superintended  every  item 
of  the  preparations  connected  with  food, 
clothing,  and  equipment.     You  will  be 
guided  by  the  information  and  knowl- 
edge thus  acquired. 

e.  Lieutenant    Armitage,   R.  N.  R., 
who  has  been  appointed  second  in  com- 
mand and  navigator  to  the  expedition, 
has  had  experience  in  the  work  of  tak- 
ing astronomical,  magnetic,  and  mete- 
orological   observations    during    three 
Polar  winters.     He  has  also  acquired 
experience   in   sledge-traveling  and   in 
the  driving  and  management  of  dogs. 
You  will,  no  doubt,  find  his  knowledge 
and  experience  of  great  use. 

f.  Early  in  1903  your  ship  should  be 
free  from  the  ice  of  the  winter  quarters, 
and  you  will  devote  to  further  explora- 
tion b}'  sea  so  much  of  the  navigable 
season  as  will  certainly  leave  time  for 
the  ship  to  return  to  the  north  of  the 
pack  ice.    Having  recruited  at  your  base 


station,  you  will  then  proceed  with  your 
magnetic  survey  across  the  Pacific  and 
return  to  this  country. 

19.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  you  should 
decide  not  to  winter,  you  will  bear  in 
mind  that  it  is  most  important  to  main- 
tain   scientific     observations    on     land 
throughout  the  winter,  and  therefore  if 
you  are  able,  in  consultation  with   the 
director,  to  find  a  suitable  place  for  a 
landing   party  between  Cape   Johnson 
and  Cape  Crozier,  and  decide  that  such 
a  party  can  be  landed  and  left  without 
undue  risk,  the  following  instructions 
will  apply  : 

a.  You  will  land  a  party  under  the 
command  of  such  person  as  you  may  ap- 
point.    Such   party   shall    include    the 
director,  the  physicist,  and  one  of  the 
surgeons,  and  such  other  persons  as  you 
may  consider  desirable  ;  but  no  person 
is  to  be  left  without  his  consent  in  writ- 
ing, which  you  will  be  careful  to  obtain 
and  preserve. 

b.  You   will    give  every   practicable 
assistance  in  establishing  on  land  this 
party,  which  you  will  supply  with  all 
available  requisites,  including  a  dwell- 
ing hut,  an  observer's  hut,  three  years' 
provisions,    stores,    fuel,    sledges,    and 
dogs. 

c.  No  landing  party  is  to  be  estab- 
lished on  any  other  part  of  the  coast 
than  that  between   Cape  Johnson  and 
Cape  Crozier,  as  it  is  above  all  things 
essential    that  in  case  of  accident  the 
approximate  position  of  the  party  should 
be  known. 

d.  Before  it  is  so  late  as  to  endanger 
the  freedom  of  your  ship,  you  will  pro- 
ceed north  of  the  pack  and  carry  out 
magnetic   observations  with    sounding 
and  dredging  over  as  many  degrees  of 
longitude  (and  as  far  south  )  as  possible, 
so  long  as  the  season  and  your  coal 'per- 
mit, and  then  return  to  your  base  sta- 
tion, whence  you  will    telegraph  your 
arrival  and  await  further  instructions. 

20.  You  are  to  do  your  best  to  let  us 
have  and  to  leave  where  vou  can  state- 


343 


merits  of  your  intentions  with  regard  to 
the  places  where  you  will  deposit  rec- 
ords, and  the  course  you  will  adopt,  as 
well  as  particulars  of  your  arrangements 
for  the  possible  need  of  retreat,  so  that 
in  case  of  accident  to  the  ship  or  deten- 
tion we  shall  be  able  to  use  our  best 
endeavors  to  carry  out  your  wishes  in 
this  respect. 

21.  In  an  enterprise  of  this  nature 
much  must  be  left  to  the  discretion  and 
judgment  of   the  commanding  officer, 
and  we  fully  confide  in  your  combined- 
energy  and  prudence  for  the  successful 
issue  of  a  voyage  which  will  command 
the  attention  of  all  persons  interested  in 
navigation  and  science  throughout  the 
civilized  world.     At  the  same  time,  we 
desire  you  constantly  to  bear  in  mind 
our  anxiety  for  the  health,  comfort,  and 
safety  of  all  entrusted  to  your  care. 

22.  While  employed  on  this  service 
you  are  to  take  every  opportunity  of 
acquainting  us  with  your  progress  and 
your  requirements. 

23.  In  the  unfortunate  event  of  any 
fatal  accident  happening  to  yourself  or 
of  your  inability,  from  sickness  or  any 
other  cause,  to  carry  out  these  instruc- 
tions, the  command  of  the  ship  and  of 
the  expedition  will  devolve  on    Lieu- 
tenant Armitage,  who  is  hereby  directed 
to  assume  command  and  to  execute  such 
part  of  these  instructions  as  have  not 
been  already  carried  out  at  the  time  of 
his  assuming  command.     In  the  event 
of    a   similar    accident    to    Lieutenant 
Armitage,  the  command  is  to  devolve 
on  the  executive  officer  next  in  seniority 
on  the  articles,  and  so  on  in  succession. 

24.  All  collections  and  all  logs  (ex- 
cept the  official  log),  journals,  charts, 
drawings,     photographs,    observations, 
and  scientific  data  will  be  the  joint  prop- 
erty of  the  two  societies,  to  be  disposed 
of  as  may  be  decided  by  them.     Before 
the  final  return  of  the  expedition  you 
are  to  demand  from  the  naval  staff  all 
such  data,  which  are  to  be  sealed  up  and 
delivered  to  the  two  presidents  or  dealt 


with  as  they  may  direct.  The  director 
of  the  civilian  scientific  staff  will  be 
similarly  responsible  for  the  journals, 
collections,  etc. ,  of  the  officers  under  his 
control.  You  and  the  other  members  of 
the  expedition  will  not  be  at  liberty 
without  our  consent  to  make  any  com- 
munication to  the  press  on  matters  re- 
lating to  the  affairs  of  the  expedition, 
nor  to  publish  independent  narratives 
until  six  months  after  the  issue  of  the 
official  narrative.  All  communications 
are  to  be  made  to  us,  addressed  to  the 
care  of  the  secretary  of  the  National 
Antarctic  expedition,  London. 

25.  The  Discovery  is  not  one  of  His 
Majesty's  ships,  but  is  registered  under 
the  Merchant  Shipping  Act,  1894,  and 
is  governed  by  it.     Copies  of  this  act 
will  be  supplied  to  you.     You  will  see 
that  the  officers  and  crew  sign  the  ship's 
articles  as  required  by  the  act.     The 
scientific  staff  will  not  sign  articles,  but 
are  to  be  treated  as  cabin  passengers. 
You  must  be  careful  not  to  take  more 
than  1 2  persons  as  passengers. 

26.  The  vessel  has  been  covered  by 
insurance,  and,  in  the  event  of  her  sus- 
taining any-damage  during  the  voyage, 
to  recover  the  claim   from   the  under- 
writers it  will  be  necessary  for  you  to 
call  in  the  sendees  of  Lloyd's  agent,  or, 
in  his  absence,  an  independent  surveyor, 
at  the  first  port  of  call,  in  order  that  the 
damage  may  be  surveyed  before  repairs 
are   effected.     His    survey    report,    to- 
gether with  the  accounts  for  repairs  and 
supporting  vouchers,  should  be  sent  to 
us  by  first  mail,  together  with  a  certified 
extract  from  the  official  log  reporting 
the  casualty. 

In  the  event  of  damage  occurring  after 
you  have  left  civilized  regions  precise 
particulars  should  be  entered  in  the  log, 
and  the  damage  should  be  surveyed  and 
repaired  as  soon  as  you  return  to  a  port 
where  Lloyd's  agent  or  other  surveyor 
is  available. 

27.  The  Discovery  is  the  first  ship  that 
has  ever  been  built  expressly  for  scien- 


344        THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


tific  purposes  in  these  kingdoms.  It  is 
an  honor  to  receive  the  command  of 
her ;  but  \ve  are  impressed  with  the 
difficulty  of  the  enterprise  which  has 
been  entrusted  to  you  and  with  the  se- 
rious character  of  your  responsibilities. 
The  expedition  is  an  undertaking  of 
national  importance,  and  science  cannot 
fail  to  benefit  from  the  efforts  of  those 
engaged  in  it.  You  may  rely  upon  our 
support  on  all  occasions,  and  we  feel 
assured  that  all  on  board  the  Discovery 
will  do  their  utmost  to  further  the 
objects  of  the  expedition. 

INSTRUCTIONS  TO  THE  SCIENTIFIC 
DIRECTOR  OF  THE  CIVILIAN  SCIEN- 
TIFIC vSTAFF 

1.  The  Royal  Society  and  the  Royal 
Geographical    Society   have    approved 
your  appointment   as   director   of   the 
civilian  scientific  staff  of  their  Antarctic 
expedition. 

2.  A  copy  of  the  instructions  to  the 
commander   of   the  expedition  accom- 
panies  these    instructions,    which   are 
supplemental  to  them.     You  will   see 
from  the  instructions  to  the  commander 
what  the  objects  of  the  expedition  are, 
and  your  position  relatively  to  them. 

3.  You  will  direct  the  scientific  work 
of  the  gentlemen  who  have  been  ap- 
pointed to  assist  you. 

4.  The  names  of  the  gentlemen  as- 
sociated with  you  are  as  follows:  ( i )  Mr. 
Hodgson,  biologist;   (2)   Mr.  Shackle- 
ton,  physicist.     The  services  of  the  two 
medical  officers  will  be  at  your  disposal 
for  scientific  work  when  not  engaged 
on  the  work  of  their  own  department, 
namely,    Dr.    Koettlitz,    botanist,    and 
Dr.  Wilson,  zoologist. 

5.  You  will  note  that  the  commander 
of  the  expedition  has  been  instructed 
to  communicate  freely  with  you  on  all 
matters    connected  with  the   scientific 
objects  of  the  expedition,  and,  as  far  as 
possible,  to  meet  your  views  and  wishes 
in  connection  with  them.     The  societies 
feel  assured  that  you  will  cooperate  and 


act  in  concert  with  him,  with  a  view, 
as  far  as  possible,  to  secure  the  success 
of  an  enterprise  which  it  is  hoped  will 
be  attended  with  important  results  in 
the  various  branches  of  science  which 
it  is  intended  to  investigate. 

6.  All     collections,     logs,    journals, 
charts,   drawings,  photographs,  obser- 
vations, and  scientific  data  will  lie  the 
joint  property  of  the  two  societies,  to 
be  disposed  of  as  may  be  decided  by 
them.     Before  the  final  return  of  the 
expedition  you  are  to  demand  from  the 
staff  under  your  control  all  such  data, 
which  are  to  be  sealed  up  and  delivered 
to  the  two  presidents  or  dealt  with  as 
they  may  direct.     On  the  return  of  the 
expedition    you  will    be    expected   to 
superintend   the   distribution  of  speci- 
mens to  specialists  approved  of  by  the 
two  councils  or  their    representatives 
and  to  edit  the  resulting  reports.     You 
will  also  be  expected  to  contribute  a  re- 
port on  the  scientific  results  of  the  expe- 
dition for  the  official  narrative.     As  it 
may  be  desirable  during  the  progress  of 
the  voyage  that  some  new  scientific  dis- 
covery should  be  at  once  made  known 
in  the  interest  of  science,  you  will  in 
such  a  case  inform  us  of  it  by  the  earliest 
opportunity. 

7.  You  and  the  other  members  of  the 
expedition  will  not  be  at  liberty,  with- 
out our  consent,  to  make  any  communi 
cation  to  the  press  on  matters  relating 
in  any  way  to  the  affairs  of  the  expedi- 
tion, nor  to  publish  independent  narra- 
tives until  six  months  after  the  issue  of 
the  official  narrative.     All  communica- 
tions are  to  be  made  to  us,  addressed  to 
the  care  of  the  secretary  of  the  National 
Antarctic  expedition,  London. 

8.  Should  any  vacancies  in  the  scien- 
tific staff  occur  after  the  expedition  has 
sailed  from  England,  you  may,  with  the 
concurrence  of  the  commander,  make 
such  arrangements  as  you  think  desira- 
ble to  fill  the  same,  should  no  one  have 
been  appointed  from  England. 

9.  You  and  the  members  of  the  scien- 


URBAN  POPULATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


345 


tific  staff  will  be  cabin  passengers,  join- 
ing the  expedition  at  your  own  risk, 
and  neither  the  owners  nor  the  captain 
are  to  be  responsible  for  any  accident  or 
misfortune  which  may  happen  to  you. 


You  will  obtain   from  each  member  a 
letter  to  this  effect. 

The  instructions  are  signed  by  the 
presidents  of  the  Royal  Society  and  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society. 


URBAN  POPULATION  OF  UNITED   STATES* 


THE  city  population  of  the  United 
States  during  the  ten  years 
ending  with  the  last  census  in- 
creased by  nearly  37  per  cent,  in  actual 
numbers  7,642,817,  while  the  increase 
in  the  total  population  of  the  country 
during  the  same  period  was  not  quite 
21  per  cent. 

In  1900  there  were  160  cities,  161  in- 
cluding Honolulu,  having  a  population 
of  over  25,000.  Of  this  number  nine- 
teen cities  contained  200,000  inhabitants 
or  more,  nineteen  cities  had  between 
100,000  and  200,000  inhabitants,  forty 
cities  had  between  50,000  and  100,000, 
and  eighty-three  had  between  25,000 
and  50,000.  A  recent  bulletin  of  the 
Census  Bureau,  prepared  under  the  di- 
rection of  William  C.  Hunt,  gives  some 
interesting  facts  and  figures  relative  to 
growth  of  the  city  population  in  the 
United  States. 

In  1890  there  were  124  cities  which 
had  a  population  of  25,000  or  more,  but 
of  these  cities  Brooklyn  and  Long  Island 
City  now  form  a  part  .of  New  York  city, 
showing  a  net  gain  of  thirty-nine  cities 
in  1900,  as  compared  with  1890.  Of 
the  124  cities  in  1890,  sixteen  had  200,- 
ooo  inhabitants  or  more,  twelve  had  be- 
tween 100,000  and  200,000  inhabitants, 
thirty  had  between  50,000  and  100,000 
inhabitants,  and  sixtj;-six  had  between 
25,000  and  50,000. 

In  1880  there  were  but  twenty  cities 
which  contained  more  than  100,000  in- 
habitants, but  in  1890  this  number  had 
increased  to  twenty-eight,  and  in  1900 
to  thirty-eight. 


In  1900  there  were  seventy-eight  cities 
of  50,000  inhabitants  or  more,  as  com- 
pared with  fifty-eight  in  1890  and  thirty- 
five  in  1880. 

The  nineteen  cities  of  the  first  class 
comprise  New  York,  which,  with  more 
than  3,000,000  inhabitants,  properly 
stands  by  itself  ;  two  cities,  Chicago  and 
Philadelphia,  each  of  which  has  a  popu- 
lation in  excess  of  a  million ;  three  cities, 
St.  Louis,  Boston,  and  Baltimore,  which 
have  a  population  of  half  a  million  each; 
five  cities,  Cleveland,  Buffalo,  San  Fran- 
cisco, Cincinnati,  and  Pittsburg,  which 
have  a  population  of  between  300,000 
and  400,000  each,  and  eight  cities,  New 
Orleans,  Detroit,  Milwaukee,  Washing- 
ton, Newark,  Jersey  City,  Louisville, 
and  Minneapolis,  which  have  a  popula- 
tion of  between  200,000  and  300,000 
each. 

The  following-named  States  and  Ter- 
ritories in  1900  do  not  contain  any  city 
with  a  population  of  25,000  or  more  : 
Arizona,  Idaho,  Indian  Territory,  Mis- 
sissippi, Nevada,  New  Mexico,  North 
Carolina,  North  Dakota,  Oklahoma, 
South  Dakota,  Vermont,  and  Wyoming. 

Of  the  whole  number  of  cities  having 
25,000  inhabitants  or  more  in  1900,  70 
are  found  in  the  North  Atlantic  division, 
49  in  the  north  central  division,  18  in  the 
south  central  division,  12  in  the  western 
division,  n  in  the  South  Atlantic  divis- 
ion, and  i  in  Hawaii.  Massachusetts 
has  the  largest  number  of  such  cities, 
namely,  20,  and  is  followed  by  Pennsyl- 
vania with  1 8  and  New  York  with  12. 

The  most  significant  growth  of  cities 


*  Census  Bulletin  No.  70. 


34^ 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


is  that  for  the  three  cities  in  the  State  of 
Washington,  namely,  Seattle,  Spokane, 
and  Tacoma.  These  three  cities  com- 
bined had  only  4, 981  inhabitants  in  1880, 
but  their  population  had  increased  to 
98,765  in  1890,  and  to  155,233  in  1900, 
the  increase  during  the  past  decade  being 
equivalent  to  57.2  per  cent. 

Nebraska  is  the  only  State  in  which 
the  combined  population  of  the  cities 
contained  therein  shows  a  decrease  from 
1890  to  1900. 

There  were  in  1 790  but  six  places  hav- 
ing 8, OCXD  inhabitants  or  more,  contain- 
ing in  all  but  131,472  persons,  or  only 
3.4  per  cent  of  the  total  population  at 
that  census.  At  the  census  of  1830  the 
proportion  of  the  total  population  living 
in  places  of  like  size  had  been  increased 
to  6.7  per  cent,  representing  864,509 
persons  living  in  26  places  out  of  a  total 
population  for  the  entire  country  of 
1 2 ,866,020.  At  the  census  of  1 850  there 
were  2,897,586  persons  living  in  85 
places  of  upward  of  8,000  inhabitants, 
equivalent  to  12.5  percent  of  the  entire 
population,  which  comprised  then  23, 
191,876  persons.  In  1880  the  propor- 
tion, as  compared  with  1850,  had  nearl)- 
doubled,  there  being,  out  of  a  total  pop- 
ulation of  50,155,783  at  that  census, 
11,318,547  persons,  or  22. 6  per  cent,  liv- 
ing in  286  such  places.  During  the  sue- . 
ceeding  decade  there  was  a  very  large 
increase  in  urban  population,  so  that  at 
the  census  of  1890  very  nearly  30  per 
cent  of  the  population  was  found  living 
in  447  cities  or  equivalent  incorporations 
of  8,000  inhabitants  or  more,  compris- 
ing, as  before  stated,  18,272,503  persons 
out  of  a  total  population  of  62,622,250. 


The  proportion  of  urban  population 
has  increased  during  the  past  ten  years 
at  a  less  rapid  rate,  there  being,  accord- 
ing to  the  figures  of  the  present  census. 
not  quite  one-third  (33.1  per  cent)  of 
the  population  now  living  in  places  of 
8,000  inhabitants  or  more,  exclusive  of 
Alaska,  Indian  Territory,  Indian  reser- 
vations, Hawaii,  and  persons  enumer- 
ated at  stations  abroad. 

There  has  been  a  notable  increase 
since  1890  in  the  proportion  of  urban 
population  in  the  North  Atlantic  di- 
vision of  Slates,  considered  as  a  whole, 
and  this  statement  is  true,  in  a  some- 
what less  degree,  of  the  north  central 
division  ;  58.6  per  cent  of  the  total  pop- 
ulation of  the  North  Atlantic  division 
and  30.6  per  cent  of  that  of  the  north 
central  division  in  1900  live  in  places  of 
8,000  inhabitants  or  more,  as  compared 
with  51.7  per  cent  for  the  former  and 
25.9  per  cent  for  the  latter  division  at 
the  census  of  1890. 

In  Rhode  Island  81.2  per  cent  of  the 
population  in  1900  live  in  cities  or  towns 
of  8,000  inhabitants  or  more,  while  this 
element  also  constitutes  76  per  cent  of 
the  population  in  Massachusetts,  68.5 
per  cent  in  New  York,  61.2  per  cent  in 
New  Jersey,  and  53.2  per  cent  in  Con- 
necticut. These  are  the  only  States, 
aside  from  the  District  of  Columbia,  in 
which  the  proportion  of  urban  popula- 
tion, measured  on  this  basis,  is  greater 
than  one-half  of  the  total  population  in 
1900,  but  in  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Illinois,  and  California  there 
is  between  40  and  50  per  cent  of  the 
total  population  living  in  places  of  this 
size. 


E.  O.  Hovey,  associate  curator  of  the 
American  Museum  of  Natural  History 
of  New  York,  is  at  work  in  western 
South  Dakota  collecting  Jurassic  fossils 
for  the  museum. 


Prince  Henry  of  Orleans,  who  with  Bon- 
valot  traversed  Tibet  in  1890,  died  at 
Saigon,  French  Cochin  China, on  August 
9.  The  prince  had  also  traveled  exten- 
siveh*  in  Campodia  and  Tonkin. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


THE   BALLOON   AS    AN   AID    TO   EX- 
PLORATION 

IT  might  not  be  inappropriate  at  the 
present  time,  in  view  of  M.  Santos 
Dumont's  success  in  aerial  navigation, 
to  recall  the  argument  of  the  famous 
American  aeronaut  Wise  in  favor  of  the 
use  of  balloons  in  exploration. 

"  If,  for  instance,"  writes  Mr.  Wise, 
in  "A  System  of  Aeronautics."  1850, 
' '  we  take  a  balloon  of  limited  size,  about 
1 8  feet  in  diameter  each  way,  it  will, 
when  inflated  with  hydrogen  gas,  be 
capable  of  raising  160  pounds,  inde- 
pendent of  its  own  weight.  Now,  if 
this  be  so  fastened  to  a  man's  body,  as 
not  to  interfere  with  the  free  use  of  his 
arms  and  legs,  he  may  then  ballast  him- 
self so  as  to  be  a  trifle  heavier  than  the 
upward  tendency  of  the  balloon,  which 
will  be  nearly  in  equilibric." 
"  He  may  then  bound  against  the  earth 
with  his  feet  so  as  to  make  at  least  a 
hundred  yards  at  each  bound. 

' '  This  the  writer  has  often  done,  in 
the  direction  of  a  gentle  wind,  with  the 
aid  of  his  feet  alone,  after  his  balloon  had 
descended  to  the  earth  ;  and,  on  one  oc- 
casion, traversed  a  pine  forest  of  several 
miles  in  extent,  by  bounding  against  the 
tops  of  the  trees.  Such  a  contrivance 
would  be  of  inestimable  value  to  explor- 
ing expeditions.  Landings  to  otherwise 
inaccessible  mountains ;  escapes  from 
surrounding  icebergs  ;  explorations  of 
volcanic  craters;  traversing  vast  swamps 
and  morasses  ;  walking  over  lakes  and 
seas  ;  bounding  over  isthmuses,  straits, 
and  promontories,  or  exploring  the 
cloud-capped  peaks  of  Chimborazo, 
could  thus  all  be  easily  accomplished." 

POPULATION  OF  CANADA 

THE  population  of  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  is  given  by  the  recent  cen- 
sus as  5,338,883,  an  increase  of  505,644, 
or  about  io}4  per  cent,  during  the  last 


ten  years.     The  population  of  the  prov- 
inces is  as  follows  : 

Provinces.  1891.  1931. 

British  Columbia 98, 173  190,000 

Manitoba 152,506  246,464 

New  Brunswick 321,263  331,093 

Nova  Scolia 450,396  459, 1 16 

Ontario 2,114,321  2,167,978 

Prince  Edward  Island. ...      109,078  103,258 

Quebec 1,488,535  1,620,974 

Territories 66,799  I45,000 

Unorganized  territories. ..        32,168  75,ooo 

The  population  of  the  principal  cities 
of  Canada,  by  municipal  boundaries,  is 
as  follows  : 


Cities. 


1891. 


Montreal 220, 181 

Toronto 181 , 220 

Quebec 63,090 

Ottawa 44,154 

Hamilton 48,980 

Winnipeg 25,639 

Halifax 38,495 

St.  John 39, 1 79 

L/ondon 31, 977 

Victoria 16,841 

Kingston    19,263 

Vancouver 13,709 

Brantford 12,753 

Hull n,  264 

Charlottetown 1 1 ,373 

Valleyfield 5, 515 

Sherbrooke 10,097 

Sydney 2,427 

Moncton 5, 165 

Calgary 3,876 

Brandon 3,778 


1901. 

266,826 

207,971 

68,834 

59,902 

52,550 

42,336 

40,787 

40,711 

37,983 
20,821 
18,040 
26,196 
16,631 
13-988 
12,080 

",055 

n,765 

9,908 

9,026 

12,142 

5,738 


A  study  of  the  population  by  families 
compared  with  1891  is  very  interesting. 
In  nearly  every  province  the  per  cent  of 
increase  by  families  is  considerably 
greater  than  the  per  cent  of  increase  of 
the  actual  population. 


Provinces. 


1891. 


British  Columbia   . .    20,718 

Manitoba 3L786 

New  Brunswick 58,462 

Nova  Scotia 83,730 

Ontario  4M-796 

Prince  Edward  Island 18,601 

Quebec 271,991 

•Territories I4.4'5 

Unorganized  territories 32, 168 


1901. 
30,000 
48,590 
62,700 
89,106 

451,839 
18,746 

303-301 
29,500 
75.000 


348 


THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


The  dwellings  are  as  follows  : 

Provinces.                              1891.  1901. 

British  Columbia 20,016  38,000 

Manitoba 3°.79°  47-9()3 

New  Brunswick 54-7I8  58-227 

Nova  Scotia 79.  i°2  85,032 

( Hitario 406,946  440,419 

Prince  Edward  Island 18,389  18,530 

Quebec 1 . .  246,644  287,533 

Territories 14,129  28,300 

The  returns  for  extreme  northern 
portions  of  Quebec  and  Ontario  and  for 
the  unorganized  territories  of  Atha- 
basca, Franklin,  Keewatin,  MacKenzie, 
Ungava,  and  Yukon  have  not  been 
received. 

COAL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

THE  output  of  coal  in  the  United 
States  for  1900  for  the  second 
successive  year  surpassed  the  output  of 
Great  Britain  during  the  same  period. 
Mr.  Edward  W.  Parker,  statistician  of 
the  U .  S.  Geological  Survey,  reports  the 
total  output  in  1900  in  the  United  States 
as  267,542,444  short  tons,  an  increase 
over  the  preceding  year  of  13,802,452 
tons,  or  a  little  more  than  5  per  cent. 
The  output  in  Great  Britain  for  the 
year  was  15,000,000  short  tons  less. 
West  Virginia  showed  the  largest  in- 
crease in  tonnage, her  output  exceeding 
2 1 ,000,000  tons  for  the  first  time.  Ohio 
showed  the  next  largest  increase,  and 
Alabama,  Arkansas,  the  Indian  Terri- 
tory, Michigan,  and  Utah  also  made 
very  notable  gains.  The  output  in 
Kansas  increased  by  600,000  tons,  or  16 
per  cent,  and  that  of  Kentucky  by 
575,000  tons,  or  12  per  cent. 

The  following  table,  prepared  by  Mr. 
Parker,  gives  the  production  and  value 
of  coal  (in  short  tons)  in  the  different 
States  in  1900: 

Production.  Value. 

Alabama 8,393,385  $9,745,722 

Arkansas 1,441,345  1,653,818 

California 171,708  523,231 

Colorado 5,232,643  5,848,339 

Georgia  and  North  Car- 
olina        333,29i  370.022* 

Illinois 25, 153,929  22,529,665 


Production.  v 

Indiana 6,449,645  |6,6; 

Indian  Territory 1,918,572 

Iowa '. 5,237,634  7.2' 

Kansas 4.453, 107  5,.v 

Kentucky 5,181,917  4,7. 

Maryland 4.i>2.j.6,SS  ^.t, 

Michigan ^49-455  1,2  = 

Missouri 3,269,491  4,01 

Montana  1,661,775  2,71 

New  Mexico 1,299,099  1,77 

North  Dakota 1 29,883  is-s. 

Ohio 19,105.408  19.4 

Oregon 5^,S64  22> 

Pennsylvania  : 

Anthracite 57,107,660  82,993,471 

Bituminous 79,616,346  77, 166, 158 

Tennessee 3,73I,t>'I7  4,215,080 

Texas 968,373  1,581,914 

Utah 1,146,277  1,445,415 

Virginia 2.137,007  1,757-525 

Washington 2,474,093  4,700,068 

West  Virginia 21,980,430  17,698,734 

Wyoming 4,014,602  5-457,953 

Adolf  Erik  Nordenskjold,  the  first  and 
only  explorer  to  accomplish  the  Northeast 
Passage,  died  at  his  home,  in  Stockholm, 
on  Tuesday,  August  13.  Nordenskjold 
was  born  69  years  ago  at  Helsingfors, 
the  capital  of  Finland.  He  had  but 
reached  the  age  of  manhood  when  he 
fell  under  the  suspicion  of  the  Russian 
authorities  and  was  compelled  to  leave 
the  country.  He  settled  in  Sweden  and 
soon  became  interested  in  Arctic  explo- 
ration. Xordenskjold  had  already  spent 
20  years  adding  to  the  mapsof  Greenland, 
Spitsbergen,  and  the  Kara  Sea,  which 
he  was  one  of  the  first  to  penetrate,  when 
he  determined  to  reach  Bering  Strait 
by  crawling  around  the  headlands  and 
islands  of  northern  Asia.  Without  any 
hindrance  he  had  arrived  almost  in  si.^ht 
of  the  strait  when  the  tantalizing 
closed  in  before  him,  and  for  ten  months 
his  ship  wras  held  motionless.  Then  the 
ice  mass  opened  and  allowed  the  Vega 
to  sail  the  few  remaining  miles  to  and 
through  the  strait  and  thus  to  complete 
the  Northeast  Passage  (1879).  He  did 
a  great  deal  to  promote  navigation  along 
the  north  coast  of  Siberia  and  to  lead 
commerce  to  the  mouths  of  the  great 
Siberian  rivers — Obi,  Yenisei,  and  Lena. 


WILLIAM  McKINLEY 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES 

most  honored  and  best  beloved  of  Americans 

an  honorary  member  of  the  National  Geographic  Society 

died  from  an  assassin's  bullet  September   14,  1901 

in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age 

R.  I.  P. 


VOL.  XII,  No.  10 


WASHINGTON 


OCTOBER,  1901 


NEXT   INTERNATIONAL   GEOGRAPHICAL 

CONGRESS   TO   BE   HELD   IN 

WASHINGTON 


HE  next  International  Geograph- 
ical Congress  will  be  held  in 
Washington  under  the  auspices 
the  National  Geographic  Society, 
he  acceptance  of  the  invitation  ex- 
:ended  by  the  Society  has  just  been  re- 
ived by  President  Graham  Bell  from 
aron  von  Richthofen,  President  of  the 
xecutive  Committee  of  the  last  Con- 
gress. This  will  be  the  first  time  the 
Congress  will  have  assembled  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere,  so  that  the  event 
ill  be  of  much  importance  to  American 
eographers.  The  Congress  will  not  be 
eld  until  1904,  which  will  allow  ample 
ime  for  the  preparation  of  a  program 
.d  of  a  series  of  excursions  to  points  of 
geographic  interest. 

The  object  of  the  Geographical  Con- 
gresses is  to  stimulate  interest  in  geo- 
graphic work,  and  also  to  promote  har- 
mony in  methods  of  work.  It  is  now 
thirty  years  since  the  first  Congress  was 
held,  at  Antwerp.  In  1869  the  people 
of  Belgium,  by  popular  subscription, 
had  raised  a  fund  to  erect  statues  to  the 
great  Flemish  geographers,  Mercator 
and  Ortelius.  The  feeling  that  the  work 
of  these  famous  men  of  the  sixteenth 


century  deserved  more  than  local  hom- 
age led  to  the  arrangement  for  an  inter- 
national festival  at  Antwerp  in  their 
honor.  The  festival  took  place  August 
14-22,  1871.  Many  geographers  from 
many  nations  gathered  in  the  old  Flem- 
ish town,  and  at  the  meeting  papers  of 
much  scientific  importance  were  read. 
So  great  was  the  interest  and  enthusi- 
asm of  all,  and  so  apparent  the  advan- 
tage of  such  a  meeting  of  geographers 
of  all  nations,  most  of  them  with  dif- 
ferent ideas  and  different  methods,  that 
a  resolution  was  passed  to  continue  the 
Congress  periodically.  The  name  given 
to  the  first  Congress  was  ' '  Congres  des 
Sciences  geographiques,  cosmograph- 
iques,  et  commerciales,"  the  importance 
of  the  commercial  element  in  a  strictly 
geographical  sense  being  thus  recog- 
nized definitely. 

At  this  time  a  revival  in  popular  in- 
terest in  explorations  swept  over  Eu- 
rope. The  discoveries  of  Livingstone 
during  the  preceding  years  in  the  heart 
of  Africa  had  awakened  the  world  to 
the  immense  unknown  portions  of  the 
earth's  surface.  Then  came  Stanley's 
march  across  Africa  and  the  tremendous 


35 2        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


excitement  aroused  by  his  discoveries  of 
millions  of  people  along  the  Kongo. 
Geographical  societies  were  founded 
everywhere.  In  the  ten  years  from 
1871  to  1880  thirty-nine  important  so- 
cieties were  founded,  whereas  only  about 
twenty  had  existed  before  that  decade. 
Chairs  in  geography  were  established  at 
different  universities,  and  the  applica- 
tions of  geography  to  education,  to  com- 
merce, and  to  national  policy  were  every- 
where recognized. 

The  second  Congress  was  held  in  Paris 
in  1875.  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps,  then  at 
the  height  of  his  fame,  President  of  the 
Geographical  Society  of  Paris,  presided. 
The  meeting  marked  an  advance  in  en- 
thusiasm and  numbers. 

The  third  met  at  Venice,  six  years 
later.  It  was  carried  out  on  a  grander 
scale  than  either  of  its  predecessors  and 
was  given  national  importance  by  the 
Italians.  The  King  and  Queen  of  Italy 
and  the  highest  political  officials  were 
present  at  the  opening  ceremony.  The 
Congress  was  specially  noted  for  the 
magnificent  exhibition  organized  by  the 
Italian  Geographical  Society. 

In  connection  with  the  Paris  Exhibi- 
tion of  1889  an  international  conference 
on  geography  was  held,  which  was  after- 
ward adopted  as  the  fourth  Interna- 
tional Geographical  Congress.  Some 
very  valuable  papers  summarizing  the 
geographic  work  done  by  the  principal 
nations  of  Europe  during  the  nineteenth 
century'were  presented  to  the  conference. 

In  the  summer  of  1891  the  city  of 
Berne  celebrated  the  seventh  centenary 
of  the  foundation  of  the  town,  and,  at 
the  earnest  invitation  of  its  citizens,  the 
fifth  Geographical  Congress  was  held  in 
connection  with  the  celebration.  A  good 
exhibition  of  maps  and  geographical 
text  books,  for  the  most  part  by  Swiss 
geographers,  was  the  chief  feature  of 
interest.  At  this  Congress  the  members 
voted  to  hold  future  meetings  not  oftener 
than  once  in  three  years  or  more  rarely 
than  once  in  five. 


London  was  the  scene  of  the  sixth 
Congress,  which  was  held  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Royal  Geographical  So- 
ciety. This  was  the  first  Geographical 
Congress  at  which  the  National  (k-o- 
graphic  Society  had  representatives,  for 
at  the  time  of  the  preceding  meeting  t he- 
society  had  been  in  existence  but  three 
years.  Gen.  A.  W.  Greely,  U.  S.  A .: 
Mr.  W.  W.  Rockhill,  and  Miss  Eli/a  R. 
Scidmore  represented  the  Society  at  this 
meeting.  Polar  explorations  received 
considerable  discussion,  in  which,  nat- 
urally, General  Greely  took  a  prominent 
part. 

Meantime  there  had  been  a  growing 
feeling  that  the  part  played  by  Ainer- 
cans  in  the  promotion  of  exploration 
should  be  recognized  by  a  meeting  of 
the  Congress  in  the  United  States,  and 
at  this  Congress  a  cordial  invitation  1>\ 
the  National  Geographic  Society  to  hold 
the  next  meeting  in  Washington  \vas 
in  the  hands  of  our  representatives.  It 
was  deemed  advisable,  however,  to  con- 
vene in  Berlin. 

At  the  Congress  held  at  Berlin  in  the 
summer  of  1899  as  many  as  1,600  per- 
sons were  enrolled  as  members  actually 
in  attendance.  Baron  von  Richthofen, 
president  of  the  Geographical  Society 
of  Berlin,  and  recently  appointed  For- 
eign Minister  of  Germany,  presided 
over  the  sessions  of  the  Congress,  which 
were  held  in  the  building  of  the  Prussian 
House  of  Representatives.  One  pleasant 
feature  of  the  meeting  was  a  series  of 
excursions  to  points  of  geographic  in- 
terest within  a  few  hours  of  Berlin.  The 
National  Geographic  Society  was  rep- 
resented by  the  following  members : 
Hon.  Andrew  D.  White,  United  States 
Embassador  to  Germany  ;  Gen.  A.  \V. 
Greely;  Dr.  Marcus  Baker,  of  the  U.  S. 
Geological  Survey ;  Prof.  Wm.  M.  Davis. 
of  Harvard  University, and  Miss  Eliza  R. 
Scidmore. 

The  invitation  of  the  Society  to  hold 
the  next  Congress  in  Washington  under 
its  auspices  was  informally  renewed. 


INTERNATIONAL   GEOGRAPFUCAL   CONGRESS       353 


Alexander  Graham  Bell,  LL.  D. 
President  National  Geographic  Society 


Later  a  formal  invitation  was  extended 
by  President  Graham  Bell  on  behalf  of 
the  Society.  By  the  courtesy  of  Hon. 
Andrew  D.  White  the  invitation  was 
presented  to  Baron  von  Richthofen  and 
has  been  accepted  by  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee. As  President  von  Richthofen 


in  his  letter  of  acceptance  says,  ' '  There 
is  indeed  no  place  better  fitted  for  geog- 
raphers to  assemble  than  Washington, 
which  is  the  great  center  of  scientific 
geographical  exploration  in  America 
and  the  distinguished  workshop  of  a 
considerable  number  of  eminent  men." 


354         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


It  is  in  fact  appropriate  that  the  enor- 
mous part  contributed  by  Americans  to 
geographic  progress  during  the  past 
century  and  the  present  activity  in  geo- 
graphic lines  of  work  maintained  by 
the  United  States  Government,  by  geo- 


by  Americans  in  exploration.  At  the 
time  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  in  i 
the  immense  tract  to  the  west  of  the 
Mississippi  was  a  blank  on  the  maps, 
even  the  existence  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains was  not  hinted  at  in  the  ge< 


W  J  McGee,  LL.  D. 
Vice-President  National  Geographic  Society 


graphic  societies,  and  by  private  enter- 
prise should  be  recognized  by  a  meeting 
of  the  geographers  of  the  world  in  the 
center  of  geographic  enterprise  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere. 

In  this  limited  space  it  is  possible  to 
mention  only  one  of  the  achievements 


phies  and  atlases  of  the  time;  but  today 
almost  every  mile  in  this  vast  territory 
is  as  well  known  as  England  or  France. 
And  on  the  other  continents  Americans 
have  done  their  share — in  Africa,  in 
Asia,  and  in  the  polar  regions. 

But  the  purposes  of  a  Geographical 


INTERNATIONAL   GEOGRAPHICAL   CONGRESS       355 


Congress  deal  more  with  the  present 
than  the  past.  Today  the  United  States 
Government  spends  annually  several 
millions  of  dollars  for  scientific  research, 
nearly  every  dollar  of  which  goes  to- 
ward geographic  progress.  The  Smith- 


the  Biological  Survey, the  Hydrographic 
Office,  the  Bureau  of  Forestry,  the  great 
bureaux  of  Statistics  and  Commerce  of 
the  Treasury  Department  and  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  and  the  Di- 
vision of  Military  Information  of  the 


Gen.  A.  W.  Greely,  U.  S.  Army 
Gold  Medalist  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  and  of  the  Socie'te'  de  Geographic  de  Paris 


sonian  Institution,  with  its  great  mu- 
seums and  splendid  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology ;  the  Geological  Survey,  the 
Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey, the  Weather 
Bureau,  the  Fish  Commission,  the  Cen- 
sus Bureau,  the  General  Land  Office, 


War  Department,  are  among  the  institu- 
tions engaged  in  promoting  geographic 
research. 

The  National  Geographic  Society  of 
America,  the  host  of  the  next  Interna- 
tional Geographical  Congress,  represents 


356        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


every  section  of  the  country  in  its  mem- 
bership. Within  a  few  days  the  corner- 
stone will  be  laid  of  a  large  and  hand- 
some structure,  the  Hubbard  Memorial 
Building,  which  is  to  be  its  home  in 
Washington.  Because  of  its  central  loca- 


tion the  Society  is  fortunate,  in  that 
can  have  the  assistance,  in  making  tl 
Congress  a  success,  of  the  other  ge( 
graphic  societies  of  America,  of  \vh< 
hearty  cooperation  it  has  l>tt n  ;issuu 
It  has  been  suggested,  and  it  is  to  be 


Hon.  Seth  Low 
President  American  Geographical  Society 


INTERNATIONAL   GEOGRAPHICAL   CONGRESS       357 


hoped  it  may  be  found  practicable,  to 
hold  sessions  of  the  Congress  also  in 
other  cities  :  In  New  York,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  American  Geographical 
Society  of  that  city,  a  portrait  of  whose 
honored  president,  Dr.  Seth  Low,  ap- 
pears on  another  page  ;  in  Boston,  with 
the  Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  and  in 
Philadelphia,  Chicago,  and  probably  in 
San  Francisco  and  Seattle,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  noted  geographic  societies 
of  these  cities. 

The  National  Geographic  Society  will 
hope  to  offer  its  guests  an  attractive 
series  of  excursions  to  points  of  geo- 
graphic interest.  In  the  letter  of  invi- 
tation the  following  possible  excursions, 
each  one  of  which  would  be  a  geographic 
lesson,  are  suggested  : 

' '  While  it  might  be  premature  to  sug- 
gest special  excursions  to  points  and  re- 
gions of  geographic  interest,  your  atten- 
tion is  asked  to  the  fact  that  Washington 
is  situated  in  the  midst  of  natural  and 
cultural  features  of  such  character  as  to 
appeal  to  geographic  students.  Niagara 
Falls  is  but  a  few  hours  in  one  direction, 
the  Natural  Bridge  of  Virginia  is  near 
at  hand  in  another,  and  the  Mammoth 
Cave  of  Kentucky  but  a  short  journey 
in  a  third  direction.  The  metropoles  of 
eastern  United  States  —  Boston,  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Rich- 
mond— are  so  near  that  it  would  be  pos- 
sible to  hold  a  session  in  one  or  more  of 
these  cities. 


"Chicago  is  only  1,300  kilometers 
(23  hours)  away,  and  a  session  might 
easily  be  held  there.  Denver,  the  gate- 
way to  the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  is 
within  3,000  kilometers  (2^  days),  and 
the  Grand  Canon  of  Colorado,  Great 
Salt  Lake,  and  Yellowstone  National 
Park  are  only  a  little  farther.  Even 
the  remotest  parts  of  the  country  are 
now  easily  accessible.  California  is  but 
4,350  kilometers  (3^3  days)  from  Wash- 
ington at  The  Needles  and  4,900  kilo- 
meters (32/4  days)  at  Los  Angeles,  while 
San  Francisco,  at  the  Golden  Gate,  is 
only  a  little  over  four  days  from  the  Na- 
tional Capital.  From  these  points  Mt. 
Shasta  and  Yosemite  Valley  are  readily 
accessible,  while  the  notable  scenery  of 
the  Selkirks  and  other  mountains  in 
Canada,  the  peaks  and  glaciers  of  Alaska , 
and  the  picturesque  plateaus  and  his- 
toric cities  of  Mexico  are  also  within 
easy  reach,  the  City  of  Mexico  being 
only  4,600  kilometers  (3^  days)  from 
Washington. 

' '  The  members  of  the  National  Geo- 
graphic Society  feel  that  these  and  other 
features  of  geographic  interest  are 
worthy  the  attention  of  the  distin- 
guished savants  accustomed  to  attend 
the  sessions  of  the  International  Geo- 
graphic Congress,  and  they  would  feel 
highly  honored  by  the  occasion  of  wel- 
coming their  colleagues  from  beyond 
the  Atlantic  to  their  own  field  of  work 
and  thought."  G.  H.  G. 


PEARY'S   WORK   IN    1900   AND    1901 


U 


P 


EARY  has  circumsledged 
Greenland,  discovered  most 
northern  land  in  the  world. 
Returns  1902  with  Pole,"  says  Mr. 
Bridgman,  Secretary  of  the  Peary  Arctic 
Club,  in  a  telegram  to  the  NATIONAL 
GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE  from  Sydney, 
C.  B.,  September  13,  1901. 


A  detailed  statement  of  Peary's  very 
important  work  during  the  past  two 
years  follows  : 

On  April  15,  1900,  Peary  left  Fort 
Conger,  81°  44'  north  latitude,  and, 
accompanied  by  his  faithful  Henson  and 
five  Eskimo,  crossed  Robeson  Channel 
to  the  Greenland  coast  and  followed  it 


35 8         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


on  foot  and  over  the  sea  ice  to  the  north- 
ward. He  had  devised  an  ingenious 
scheme  for  making  his  little  force  as 
mobile  as  possible.  Each  sled  was 
stocked  with  a  complete  outfit  of  pro- 
visions as  though  it  were  the  only  store 
from  which  the  party  had  to  draw.  All 
hands  used  from  it  until  it  was  emptied, 
when  it  was  sent  back  in  charge  of  its 
Eskimo  driver  and  drawn  by  only  two 
of  the  dogs.  The  other  dogs  were  at- 
tached to  the  remaining  sleds.  In  this 
way  two  of  the  Eskimo  were  sent  back 
on  April  26,  and  two  others  early  in 
May. 

Lock  wood's  farthest  North  Cairn  of 
May  13,  1882,  was  opened  May  8,  and 
its  records  were  taken  ;  and  at  Cape 
Washington,  the  headland  seen  by  him 
fifteen  miles  northeast,  in  1882,  another 
cairn  was  erected  and  a  copy  of  the 
' '  Farthest ' '  record  and  additional  mem- 
oranda were  deposited.  Peary  pushed 
on,  and  at  83°  39"  north  rounded  the 
northern  extremity  of  Greenland,  find- 
ing the  coast  at  this  point  to  trend  rap- 
idly eastward.  There,  on  the  most 
northerly  known  land  in  the  world, 
Peary  built  a  cairn,  in  which  he  depos- 
ited records,  etc. 

Peary  then  struck  over  the  sea  ice  for 
the  Pole,  but  was  able  to  advance  only  to 
83°  50'  north,  when  he  was  stopped  by 
the  broken  pack  and  much  open  water. 
Retracing  his  steps.  Peary  pushed  on 
along  the  Greenland  coast,  all  the  time 
eastward,  about  160  miles  beyond  Lock- 
wood's  farthest,  to  latitude  83°  north, 
longitude  25°  west,  or  approximately 
but  little  more  than  a  degree  from  Inde- 
pendence Bay,  discovered  and  named  by 
him  July  4,  1892.  The  reconnaissance 
ended  with  a  definite  demonstration 
of  the  western  and  northern  coasts  of 
Greenland. 

A  pronounced  change  in  the  charac- 
ter of  the  coast  was  found  beyond 
Cape  Washington,  the  bold,  precipitous 
headlands  and  deeply  cut  fjords  being 
succeeded  by  a  low  rolling  foreland, 


suggesting  possible  glaciation  at  some 
earlier  period;  and  all  along  the  northern 
coast  much  open  water  was  met.  Bear, 
musk  oxen,  hare,  and  lemming  we  re 
killed  in  the  newly  discovered  country, 
affording  an  ample  supply  of  fresh  meat 
for  men  and  dogs;  and  a  stray  wolf  was 
seen.  Having  practically  connected  his 
work  of  eight  years  before  with  that  of 
1900,  and  completed  the  determination 
of  the  northern  boundary  of  Greenland, 
Peary,  on  May  22,  turned  back,  follow- 
ing practically  the  line  of  his  outward 
march,  and  on  June  10  arrived  at  Fort 
Conger,  having  been  three  months  in 
the  field  without  accident,  illness,  or 
serious  mishap  of  any  kind  to  himself 
or  any  of  his  party. 

Peary's  own  estimate  of  his  work  in 
1900  is  given  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  H.  L. 
Bridgman,  from  which  the  following 
extracts  are  taken  : 

"  CONGER,  April  4.,  1901. 

"  MY  DEAR  BRIDGMAN  :  It  gives  me 
great  pleasure  to  present  to  the  club  the 
results  of  the  work  of  1900. 

"  First.  The  round  of  the  northern 
limit  of  the  Greenland  archipelago,  the 
most  northerly  known  land  in  the  world ; 
probably  the  most  northerly  land. 

"Second.  The  highest  latitude  yet 
attained  in  the  Western  Hemisphere 
(83°  50'  north). 

' '  Third.  The  determination  of  the 
origin  of  the  so-called  '  paleocrystic  ice ' 
(floe  berg),  etc. 

"  Considering  that  I  am  an  old  man, 
have  one  broken  leg  and  only  three  toes, 
and  that  my  starting  point  was  Etah,  I 
feel  that  this  was  doing  tolerably  well. 
It  is  almost  a  thousand  years  since 
'  Eric  the  Red  '  first  sighted  the  south- 
ern extremity  of  the  archipelago,  and 
from  that  time  Norwegians,  Dutch, 
Danes,  Swedes,  Englishmen,  Scotch- 
men, and  Americans  have  crept  grad- 
ually northward  up  its  shores,  until  at 
last,  through  the  instrumentality  and 
liberality  of  the  club,  its  northern  cape 


PEARY'S    WORK    IN    1900    AND    1901  359 


Lieut.   Robert  E.   Peary 


has  been  lifted  out  of  the  Arctic  mists 
and  obscurity.  It  seems  fitting  that 
this  event,  characterized  by  Sir  Clements 
Markham  as  second  in  importance  only 
to  the  attainment  of  the  Pole  itself, 
should  fall  in  the  closing  year  of  the 
century.  If  I  do  not  capture  the  Pole 
itself  in  this  spring's  campaign,  I  shall 
try  it  again  next  spring.  My  gratitude 


and  respects  to  all  the  members  of  the 
club. 

"Always  most  sincerely, 

"  PEARY." 

"  Dr.  Dedricht  takes  this  letter  south, 
to  be  sent  by  natives  to  Cape  York, 
thence  by  whaler  to  the  British  consul 
at  any  civilized  port." 


360         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


Peary  sends  to  the  club  a  complete 
and  detailed  chart  of  his  newly  discov- 
ered coast  and  other  work,  reserving 
until  the  completion  of  his  work  the 
nomenclature  and  its  publication. 

Having  eliminated  the  Greenland 
archipelago  as  a  desirable  route  to  the 


Pole,  and  no  further  advance  northward 
being  possible  until  the  opening  of  the 
season  of  1901,  Peary  decided  that  his 
next  attempt  would  be  from  Cape  Hecla, 
the  northern  port  of  Grinnell  Land,  and 
from  Fort  Conger  as  a  base.  Deciding 
thus  to  winter  at  Conger,  the  autumn 


Mrs.  Josephine  D.   Peary 


PEARY'S   WORK   IN    1900    AND    1901  361 


was  spent  in  hunting  and  obtaining  the 
necessary  fresh  meat  for  men  and  dogs. 
So  diligently  was  this  work  prosecuted 
that  it  was  not  suspended  on  the  ap- 
proach of  Arctic  night,  and  hunting 
parties  were  actually  in  the  field  during 
every  moon  of  the  winter.  Game,  prin- 
cipally musk  oxen,  was  found  much 
more  abundant  in  the  L,ake  Hazen  coun- 
try, thirty  or  forty  miles  westward  of 
Fort  Conger,  than  in  its  immediate  vi- 
cinity, and  it  proved  more  feasible,  there- 
fore, to  subsist  the  dogs  where  the  meat 
was  killed  than  to  pack  it  across  the 
country  to  the  coast.  Snow  igloos  were 
built,  and  in  these  Peary  and  his  hunt- 
ers practically  spent  most  of  the  winter, 
the  rations  of  the  hunters  being  sup- 
plemented from  the  supplies  found  at 
Conger.  In  all,  nearly  200  musk  oxen 
were  killed  and  either  consumed  by  the 
expedition  or  packed  for  its  later  de- 
mands. 

Peary,  accompanied,  as  in  the  previ- 
ous year,  by  Henson  and  five  Eskimo, 
left  Conger  April  5,  1901,  for  the  north 
by  the  way  of  Cape  Hecla  ;  but  after 
some  ten  days'  march  along  the  ice  both 
the  men  and  dogs  proved  to  be  out  of 
condition  and  unfit  for  the  most  arduous 
work  certainly  ahead  of  them.  Unwill- 
ing to  risk  the  success  of  the  under- 
taking with  an  inadequate  force,  or  to 
imperil  the  lives  of  any  of  his  party, 
Peary  retraced  his  steps  and  returned 
in  good  order  and  without  loss  to  Fort 
Conger.  L,ate  in  April,  with  his  entire 
force,  Peary  retreated  southward  to 
open,  if  possible,  communication  with 
the  club's  steamer  of  1900,  from  which 
nothing  had  been  heard.  The  Wind- 
ward, fast  in  her  winter  quarters  at 
Payer  Harbor,  near  Cape  Sabine,  with 


Mrs.  Peary  and  Miss  Peary  on  board, 
prisoners  in  the  ice  for  nearly  eight 
months,  was  reached  May  6,  and  in  her 
Pear}-  made  his  headquarters  until  the 
auxiliary  ship  of  1901  should  arrive. 

Open  water  came  early  at  Cape  Sabine, 
and  July  3  the  Windward  extricated 
herself  from  the  ice  and,  crossing  to  the 
east  side  of  Smith  Sound,  devoted  July 
to  a  successful  hunt  for  walrus  in  Ingle- 
field  Gulf  to  provide  food  for  natives 
and  dogs  during  the  field  work  of  1902. 
One  hundred  and  twenty-five  were 
captured  and  landed  at  Cape  Sabine, 
the  Windward  recrossing  the  sound  to 
Etah,  Peary's  headquarters  of  1899- 
1900,  where  she  awaited  the  Erik,  which 
arrived  on  August  4,  fourteen  days  from 
Sydney,  C.  B.  After  several  weeks  of 
further  preparation  at  Etah,  the  Erik 
carried  Peary  across  Smith  Sound  and 
landed  him  and  his  equipment  and  sup- 
plies on  the  south  side  of  Herschel 
Bay,  ten  miles  south  of  Cape  Sabine,  his 
headquarters  for  next  winter. 

Peary's  winter  arrangements  at  Cape 
Sabine  insure  comfort,  and,  with  an 
ample  supply  of  provisions  pushed  along 
the  route  to  Fort  Conger,  he  expects  to 
take  the  field  with  the  returning  light 
of  1902,  fully  rested  and  in  the  best  pos- 
sible condition. 

During  the  entire  two  years  since  he 
had  been  heard  from  Peary's  health  was 
excellent,  and  the  accident  to  his  feet 
at  Fort  Conger,  in  1899,  caused  him  but 
slight  inconvenience  and  in  nowise  im- 
paired his  efficiency  in  the  field.  Dur- 
ing the  autumn  he  expects  to  make  an 
extensive  reconnaissance  of  the  interior 
and  the  western  coast  of  Ellesmere  Land, 
with  a  strong  probability  of  discovering 
natives  hitherto  unknown  to  white  men. 


THE   WEATHER   BUREAU  * 


Bv  WILLIS  L.  MOORE,  LL.  D.,  CHIEF  U.  S.  WEATHER  BUREAU 


ABOUT  the  only  knowledge  that 
most  people  have  of  the  workings 
of  the  United  States  Weather 
Bureau  of  the  Department  of  Agricult- 
ure is  gathered  from  the  daily  predic- 
tion of  rain  or  snow  that  they  encounter 
at  the  breakfast  table  as  they  glance 
over  the  morning  paper.  They  base 
their  estimate  of  the  utility  of  the 
weather  service  on  the  accuracy  of  the 
predictions  thus  hastily  scanned,  and 
many  are  prone  to  inquire  whether  it  is 
true  that  this  service  has  really  made  a 
place  for  itself  in  the  great  industrial 
economy  of  our  country  ;  whether  or 
not  an  adequate  return  is  made  for  the 
expenditure  of  over  $1,000,000  annu- 
ally ;  whether  the  science  of  weather 
forecasting  has  reached  its  highest  de- 
gree of  accuracy,  and  whether  it  holds 
out  possibilities  of  future  improvement. 
They  would  doubtless  be  amazed  if  they 
knew  the  thousand  and  one  ramifications 
through  which  it  reaches,  daily,  prob- 
ably more  than  one-half  of  our  adult 
population. 

The  United  States  Government  spends 
more  for  scientific  research  than  any 
other  country  in  the  world.  Today  every 
wheel  turns  with  scientific  precision,  and 
the  arts,  the  manufactures,  and  the  com- 
merce of  this  wonderful  country  are,  by 
the  aid  of  systematic  knowledge,  being 
developed  far  beyond  the  dreams  of  the 
most  optimistic  person  of  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago.  The  ingenuity  of  the 
Yankee  and  the  skill  of  the  American 
mechanic  are  only  physical  and  outward 
manifestations  of  the  inward  spirit  whose 
life  has  been  called  into  existence  by  the 
many  schools,  colleges,  and  polytechnic 
institutions  with  which  our  broad  land 


is  dotted  and  which,  through  the  knowl- 
edge that  they  reveal  of  the  forces  of 
nature,  enable  man  to  harness  the  in- 
visible powers  and  make  them  obedient 
to  his  will.  Probably  in  no  way  have 
we  shown  our  aptitude  in  divining  from 
apparent  confusion  some  fundamental 
principles  and  in  applying  those  princi- 
ples to  the  commerce  and  the  industry 
of  our  country  more  than  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  present  meteorological 
service.  Where  but  a  few  years  ago 
man  thought  that  chaos  reigned  supreme 
we  are  now,  by  the  aid  of  simultaneous 
daily  meteorological  observations,  able 
to  trace  out  the  harmonious  relations  of 
many  physical  laws  that  were  previously 
but  little  understood. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  METEOROLOGICAL 
SCIENCE 

It  will  be  interesting  to  note  that  at 
the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  first  of 
the  thirteen  colonies,  at  Jamestown,  Va. , 
in  1607,  practically  nothing  was  known 
of  the  properties  of  the  air  or  of  meth- 
ods for  measuring  its  phenomena.  It 
was  not  until  1643,  twenty-three  years 
after  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  on 
Plymouth  Rock,  that  Torricelli  discov- 
ered the  principle  of  the  barometer  and 
rendered  it  possible  to  measure  the 
weight  of  the  superincumbent  air  at 
any  spot  where  the  wonderful,  yet  sim- 
ple, little  instrument  might  be  placed. 
Torricelli 's  great  teacher,  Galileo,  died 
without  knowing  why  nature,  under 
certain  conditions,  abhors  a  vacuum  : 
but  he  had  discovered  the  principle  of 
the  thermometer.  The  data  from  the 
readings  of  these  two  instruments  form 


*  An  address  presented  at  the  Convention  of  Weather  Bureau  Officials,  Milwaukee,  Wiscon 
sin,  August  27-29,  1901. 


THE   WEATHER   BUREAU 


363 


the  foundation  of  all  meteorological 
science.  Their  inventors  as  little  ap- 
preciated the  value  of  their  discoveries 
as  they  dreamed  of  the  great  western 
empire  which  should  first  use  their  in- 
struments to  measure  the  inception  and 
development  of  storms. 

About  one  hundred  years  after  the 
invention  of  the  barometer,  namely,  in 
1 747,  Benjamin  Franklin,  patriot, states- 
man, diplomat,  and  scientist,  divined 
that  certain  storms  had  a  rotary  motion 
and  that  they  progressed  in  a  north- 
easterly direction.  It  was  prophetic 
that  these  ideas  should  have  come  to 
him  long  before  any  one  had  ever  pre- 
pared charts  showing  observations  si- 
multaneously taken  at  many  stations. 
But,  although  his  ideas  in  this  respect 
were  more  important  than  his  act  of 
drawing  the  lightning  from  the  clouds 
and  identifying  it  with  the  electricity 
of  the  laboratory,  his  contemporaries 
thought  little  of  his  philosophy  of 
storms.  It  remained  for  Redfield,  Espy, 
Maury,  Loomis,  and  Abbe,  one  hun- 
dred years  later,  to  gather  the  data  and 
completely  establish  the  truth  of  that 
which  the  great  Franklin  had  dimly 
yet  wonderfully  outlined.  Although 
American  scientists  were  the  pioneers 
in  discovering  the  rotary  and  progres- 
sive character  of  storms  and  in  demon- 
strating the  practicability  of  weather 
services,  the  United  States  was  the 
fourth  country  to  give  legal  autonomy 
to  a  weather  service;  but  no  one  of  the 
other  countries  had  an  area  of  such  ex- 
tent as  to  render  it  possible  to  construct 
such  a  broad  synoptic  picture  of  air 
conditions  as  is  necessary  in  the  mak- 
ing of  the  most  useful  forecasts.  It 
would  require  an  international  service, 
embracing  all  the  countries  of  Europe, 
to  equal  ours  in  the  extent  of  area 
covered. 

Congress  authorized  the  first  appro- 
priation of  $20,000  to  inaugurate  a  ten- 
tative weather  service  in  1870.  Gen. 
Albert  J.  Myer,  to  whom  was  assigned 


the  chiefship  of  the  new  meteorological 
service,  doubtless  had  no  conception  of 
the  future  wonderful  extension  of  the 
system  that  he  was  then  authorized  to 
begin.  It  is  comparatively  easy,  with 
the  great  system  now  at  our  command 
and  with  scientists  who  have  had  twenty 
years'  experience  in  watching  the  de- 
velopment and  progression  of  storms, 
to  herald  to  the  shipping  and  other  in- 
dustries of  the  United  States  forewarn- 
ings  of  coming  atmospheric  changes 
that  may  be  destructive  to  either  life  or 
property.  Former  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture J.  Sterling  Morton  did  much  to 
place  the  meteorological  service  of  the 
Government  on  a  suitable  foundation 
by  having  all  of  its  employes  and  higher 
officials  classified  and  placed  within  the 
civil  service.  This  was  essential  to  the 
proper  performance  of  the  then  existing 
duties  of  the  service.  The  present  Sec- 
retary of  Agriculture,  James  Wilson, 
has  continued  the  merit  system  in  the 
Weather  Bureau,  and  has  greatly  im- 
proved and  extended  its  operations. 
Thanks  to  his  policy  of  development, 
the  Weather  Service  has  had  a  phenom- 
enal growth  during  the  past  four  years. 

EXPANSE     OF    ATMOSPHERIC     FIELD 
SURVEYED  BY  THE  FORECASTER 

It  is  a  wonderful  picture  of  atmos- 
pheric conditions  that  is  presented  twice 
daily  to  the  trained  eye  of  the  weather 
forecaster.  It  embraces  an  area  extend- 
ing from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
from  the  north  coast  of  South  America 
over  Mexico,  the  islands  of  the  West 
Indies  and  the  Bahamas,  northward  to 
the  uttermost  confines  of  Canadian  habi- 
tation. It  is  a  panoramic  picture  of  the 
exact  air  conditions  over  this  broad  area 
that  is  twice  daily  presented  to  the  study 
of  our  experts.  Hurricanes,  cold  waves, 
hot  waves,  or  rainstorms  are  shown 
wherever  present  in  this  broad  area. 
Their  development  since  last  report  is 
noted,  and  from  the  knowledge  thus 


364         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


gained  their  future  course  and  intensity 
is  quite  successfully  forecast.  Every 
twelve  hours  the  kaleidoscope  changes, 
and  a  new  graphic  picture  of  weather 
conditions  is  shown.  Nowhere  else  in 
the  world  can  meteorologists  find  such 
an  opportunity  to  study  storms  and  at- 
mospheric changes. , 

TANGIBLE  RESULTS  OF  WEATHER 
BUREAU  WORK 

Has  the  Weather  Bureau  won  its  way 
into  the  hearts  and  confidence  of  the 
American  people,  and  do  we  feel  that 
the  expenditures  made  for  its  support 
are  wisely  made  ?  Let  us  answer  this 
question  by  giving  some  facts  relative 
to  the  number  of  people  and  industries 
that  are  daily  in  communication  with 
the  Bureau.  In  our  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
ports,  alone,  there  are  floating  over 
$30,000,000  worth  of  craft  on  any  day 
of  the  year  ;  and  at  every  port,  whether 
on  the  Atlantic,  on  the  Pacific,  or  on  the 
L/akes,  there  is  either  a  full  meteorolog- 
ical observatory  or  else  a  storm-warning 
displayman  who  attends  to  the  lighting 
of  the  danger  lights  on  the  storm-warn- 
ing towers  at  night,  to  the  display  of 
danger  flags  by  day,  and  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  storm-warning  messages  among 
vessel  masters.  This  system  is  so  per- 
fect that  the  Chief  of  the  Weather  Bu- 
reau, or  the  forecaster  on  duty  at  the 
Central  office,  can  dictate  a  storm  warn- 
ing and  feel  certain  that  inside  of  one 
hour  a  copy  of  the  warning  will  be  in 
the  hands  of  every  vessel  master  in  every 
port  of  material  size  in  the  United  States, 
provided  that  it  is  his  desire  that  a  com- 
plete distribution  of  the  warning  be 
made.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  storm 
warnings  usually  go  only  to  a  limited 
portion  of  the  coast  at  one  time.  While 
the  daily  predictions  of  rain  or  snow,  by 
which,  as  previous!}'  stated,  the  public 
measures  the  value  of  the  weather  serv- 
ice, are  subject  to  a  considerable  element 
of  error,  namely  about  one  failure  in  five 


predictions,  the  marine  warnings  oi  the 
service  have  been  so  well  made  that  in 
over  six  years  no  protracted  storm  has 
reached  any  point  of  the  United  States 
without  the  danger  warnings  being  dis- 
played well  in  advance.  As  a  result  of 
these  warnings  the  loss  of  life  and  prop- 
erty has  been  reduced  to  a  minimum, 
being  doubtless  not  more  than  25  per 
cent  of  what  it  would  have  been  with- 
out this  extensive  system,  which  comes 
daily,  and  almost  hourly,  into  commu- 
nication with  mariners.  The  public  does 
not  appreciate  this  part  of  the  service 
that,  as  a  rule,  these  warnings  do  not 
appear  in  the  newspapers  because  it  is 
not  desirable  to  publish  them  so  far  in 
advance  as  to  unnecessarily  hold  ship- 
ping in  port.  We  only  aim  to  place 
warnings  twelve  to  sixteen  hours  in  ad- 
vance of  the  coming  of  the  storm,  and 
then  we  communicate  by  telegraph,  by 
messenger,  and  by  warning  lights  and 
flags  directly  with  the  masters  of  vessels. 
It  is  a  notable  example  of  the  utility  of 
the  new  West  Indian  weather  service, 
and  of  the  wisdom  of  Congress  in  con- 
tinuing as  a  perpetual  instrument  of 
peace  the  service  organized  to  meet  an 
emergency  of  war,  that  the  Galveston 
hurricane  was  detected  on  September  i , 
at  the  time  of  its  inception,  in  the  ocean 
south  of  Porto  Rico,  and  that  the  new 
system  of  West  Indian  reports  gave  us 
such  complete  simultaneous  data  that  at 
no  time  did  we  lose  track  of  the  storm, 
and  everywhere,  as  it  progressed  north- 
ward, such  full  information  was  given 
that,  notwithstanding  the  extensive  com- 
merce of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  little  or  no 
loss  of  life  or  property  occurred  upon  the 
open  waters  of  the  Gulf,  and  the  destruc- 
tion at  Galveston  was  many  times  less 
than  it  would  have  been  without  the 
premonition  that  was  given  and  the 
activity  of  the  Bureau's  officers  in  urg- 
ing the  people  to  move  from  the  low 
ground  of  the  city  to  its  more  secure 
portions.  Again,  as  this  storm  recurved 
and  passed  over  the  Lake  region,  the 


THE    WEATHER    BUREAU 


365 


storm  warnings  were  so  well  distributed 
that,  notwithstanding  that  the  energy 
of  the  storm  was  so  great  that  few  ves- 
sels were  stanch  enough  to  live  through 
its  fury,  shipping  remained  safely  in 
harbor  and  there  was  not  a  life  lost. 
These  are  some  of  the  utilities  of  which* 
the  general  public  is  not  thoroughly  in- 
formed. 

COLD-WAVE  WARNINGS 

When  a  marked  cold  wave  develops 
in  the  north  plateau  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, and,  by  its  broad  area  and  great 
barometric  pressure,  threatens  to  sweep 
southward  and  eastward  with  its  icy 
blasts,  the  meteorological  stations  of  the 
Bureau  are  ordered  to  take  observations 
every  few  hours  in  the  region  imme- 
diately in  advance  of  the  cold  area,  and 
to  telegraph  the  same  to  headquarters. 
By  this  means  every  phase  of  the  devel- 
opment of  the  cold  area  is  carefully 
watched,  and  when  the  danger  is  great 
each  observatory  in  the  threatened  re- 
gion becomes  a  distributing  center,  from 
which  warnings  are  sent  to  those  who 
have  produce  or  perishable  articles  of 
manufacture  that  need  protection  against 
low  temperatures.  In  such  cases  the 
system  of  distribution  is  so  perfect  that 
it  is  not  uncommon  for  the  Bureau  to 
distribute  100,000  telegrams  and  mes- 
sages inside  of  the  space  of  a  few  hours, 
so  that  nearly  every  city,  village,  and 
hamlet  receives  the  information  in  time 
to  profit  thereby.  What  this  means  to 
the  farmer  and  shipper  is  well  illustrated 
by  the  fact  that  we  gathered  from  those 
personally  interested  statements  relative 
to  the  sweep  of  one  cold  wave,  which 
showed  that  over  $3,400,000  worth  of 
property  that  would  have  been  destroyed 
by  the  low  temperatures  was  saved.  To 
be  sure,  sometimes  the  surging  of  the 
great  air  eddies  which  constitute  our 
rainstorms  and  cold  waves — one  the  low- 
pressure  eddy  and  the  other  the  high- 
pressure  eddy — deflects  the  course  of  the 
storm  or  minimizes  the  degree  of  cold, 


and  the  warnings  may  partially  or  wholly 
fail  of  verification ;  but  in  these  important 
atmospheric  disturbances  the  warnings 
are  justified  in  such  a  large  proportion 
of  cases  that  those  whose  property  is  at 
stake  do  not  longer  question  the  utility 
of  the  Government  service.  That  no 
other  country  brings  its  citizens  into 
such  close  touch  with  its  weather  condi- 
tions is  shown  by  the  fact  that  even 
when  severe  storms  are  not  imminent 
there  is,  in  addition  to  the  printing  of 
the  forecasts  in  the  daily  press,  a  daily 
distribution  of  80,000  telegrams,  maps, 
and  bulletins,  that  place  the  information 
in  the  hands  of  millions  whose  personal 
interests  are  materially  affected  by  the 
weather. 

There  are  over  2,000  daily  papers  in 
the  United  States,  and  each  one  of  these 
prints  in  a  conspicuous  place  the  daily 
weather  predictions.  Did  it  ever  occur 
to  you  that  there  is  no  other  informa- 
tion that  receives  publication  and  atten- 
tion by  readers  each  day  of  the  year 
in  even*  daily  paper  of  the  country  ? 
There  are  47  tri-weekly  papers  in  the 
United  States,  434  semi- weekly,  and 
14,734  weekly  publications,  the  greater 
number  of  which  publish  the  weekly 
weather  crop  bulletins  of  the  Bureau 
for  their  respective  States.  Each  State 
forms  a  section  of  the  national  service, 
and  from  a  central  office  issues  monthly 
reports  on  the  minute  climatology  of 
the  State.  This  climatological  data  is 
gathered  from  standard  thermometers 
and  rain  gages  that  are  placed  in  each 
county.  The  information  finds  exten- 
sive publication  also  in  the  weekly  and 
monthly  periodicals. 

VALUE    OF   THE    WEATHER    SERVICE 
TO    RURAL    INDUSTRIES 

Few  people  realize  what  a  complete 
system  the  Weather  Bureau  forms  for 
the  accurate  and  rapid  collection  and 
dissemination  of  crop  information.  It 
has  i, 200  paid  and  skillfully  trained 
officials  outside  of  Washington,  who  are 


366        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


quite  evenly  distributed  over  the  conti- 
nent and  its  island  possessions,  and  who 
are  available  to  report  on  any  matters 
concerning  weather,  crops,  climate,  or 
statistics.  It  has  200  officials  and  em- 
ployes at  the  central  office  in  Washing- 
ton. It  has  1 80  fully  equipped  meteor- 
ological stations  quite  equidistantly 
scattered  over  the  United  States  and  its 
dependencies,  each  manned  by  from 
one  to  ten  trained  officials,  which  sta- 
tions are  not  only  weather  observato- 
ries, but  are  centers  for  the  gathering 
of  statistical  and  climate  and  crop  re- 
ports. It  has  a  central  observatory  in 
each  State  and  Territory  to  which  all 
subordinate  offices  in  the  State  report 
and  to  which  all  voluntary  weather  and 
crop  observers  report.  These  central 
observatories  are  equipped  with  print- 
ers, printing  plants,  trained  meteorolo- 
gists and  crop  writers,  clerks,  and  mes- 
sengers. During  the  past  fifteen  years 
the  work  of  the  substations  and  volun- 
tary crop  and  weather  observers  has 
been  so  systematized  under  the  State 
central  offices  that  these  centers  consti- 
tute the  most  efficient  means  for  the 
accurate  and  rapid  gathering,  collation, 
and  dissemination  of  statistical  and  cli- 
mate and  crop  information.  The  State 
central  offices  are  under  the  systematic 
direction  of  the  central  office  in  Wash- 
ington. The  central  office  at  Washing- 
ton is  equipped  with  cartographers, 
printers,  pressmen,  lithographers,  and 
elaborate  addressing  and  mailing  ap- 
pliances for  the  printing  and  mailing 
of  large  quantities  of  national  weekly, 
monthly,  quarterly,  or  annual  reports 
and  bulletins.  The  telegraph  circuits 
of  the  Weather  Bureau  are  ingeniously 
devised  for  the  rapid  collection,  twice 
daily, of  meteorological  reports;  they  are 
also  used  to  collect  the  weekly  national 
crop  bulletin.  The  Weather  Bureau  has 
315  paid  temperature  and  rainfall  re- 
porters who  are  now  daily  telegraphing 
their  data  from  the  growing  fields  to 
certain  cotton,  corn,  and  wheat  centers. 


The  Bureau  has  250  storm-warning  dis- 
playmen  distributed  among  the  ports 
along  the  Atlantic,  Gulf,  and  Pad  tie 
coasts  and  in  the  Lake  region.  The 
Bureau  has  an  observer  serving  each 
morning  on  the  floor  of  each  important 
•  board  of  trade,  commercial  association, 
or  cotton  or  maritime  exchange  in  the 
country,  who  displays  weather  and  crop 
information  and  each  day  charts  the 
weather  reports  on  a  large  map.  The 
Weather  Bureau  has  3,000  voluntary 
observers — nearly  one  for  each  county  in 
the  United  States — equipped  with  stand- 
ard thermometers,  instrument  shelters, 
and  rain  gages,  who  have  for  years  in- 
telligently served  the  Government  by 
taking  daily  weather  observations  and 
rendering  weekly  crop  reports  to  State 
central  offices.  There  are  14,000  per- 
sons reporting  weekly  to  the  climate  and 
crop  centers  on  the  effect  of  weather  upon 
the  crops  in  their  respective  localities. 
These  voluntary  crop  correspondents 
could  quickly  be  increased  in  number  to 
several  hundred  thousand  if  occasion  re- 
quired. In  one  month  of  four  wee 
there  are  printed  and  distributed  16 
different  State  crop  bulletins,  four  na- 
tional crop  bulletins,  and  42  monthly 
eight-page  State  climate  and  crop  bulle- 
tins. The  weekly  State  crop  bulletins 
are  written  by  the  directors  of  the  dif- 
ferent State  sections,  and  the  weekly 
national  crop  bulletin  by  Mr.  James 
Berry,  Chief  of  the  Climate  and  Crop 
Division  of  the  Weather  Bureau,  a  man 
who  has  had  many  years  experience  as  a 
writer  on  crop  conditions  in  the  United 
States. 

BRXHFITS    TO     FRflT    AND    SIV.AR 
GROWERS 

The  utilities  of  the  weather  service 
are  well  illustrated  by  the  benefits  that 
the  fruit  interests  of  California  derive 
from  the  rain  warnings,  which,  on  ac- 
count of  the  peculiar  topography  of  that 
region,  are  made  with  a  high  degree  of 
accuracy  but  a  few  hours  before  the 


367 


coming  of  the  rain,  yet  far  enough  in 
advance  to  enable  the  owners  of  vine- 
yards, most  of  which  are  connected  by 
telephones,  to  gather  and  stack  their 
trays,  and  thus  save  the  drying  raisins 
from  destruction.  Along  the  Rock}- 
Mountain  plateau  and  the  eastern  slope 
our  stations  are  so  numerous  and  our 
system  of  distribution  so  perfect  that 
the  sweep  of  every  cold  wave  is  heralded 
to  every  ranch  that  has  telegraphic  com- 
munication. In  the  cranberry  marshes 
of  Wisconsin  the  flood-gates  are  regu- 
lated by  the  frost  warnings  of  the  Bu- 
reau, and  where  formerly  a  profitable 
crop  was  secured  only  once  in  several 
years,  it  is  now  a  rare  exception  that 
damage  occurs.  As  we  go  farther  south 
and  east  into  the  Gulf  and  South  Atlantic 
States,  our  frost  warnings  are  made  with 
a  greater  degree  of  accuracy  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  country.  We  find  the 
growers  of  sugar  cane  in  Louisiana,  the 
truck -growers  from  Norfolk  south  to 
Jacksonville,  and  the  orange-growers  of 
Florida  timing  their  operations  by  the 
frost  warnings  of  the  Bureau.  From 
the  estimates  of  these  people  it  is  indi- 
cated that  the  amount  annually  saved  to 
them  is  far  greater  than  that  expended 
for  the  support  of  the  entire  Depart- 
ment. 

i 

FLOOD  'WARNINGS 

Xo  less  valuable  is  the  flood-warning 
service  which  is  in  operation  along  our 
large  river  courses.  So  much  advance 
lias  been  made  in  forecasting  flood 
stages  that  it  is  now  possible  to  foretell 
three  to  five  days  in  advance  the  height 
of  navigable  rivers  at  a  given  point  to 
within  a  few  inches.  The  danger  line 
at  every  city  has  been  accurately  deter- 
mined and  charted,  so  that  when  a  flood 
is  likely  to  exceed  the  danger  limit  res- 
idents of  low  districts  and  merchants 
having  goods  stored  in  cellars  are  noti- 
fied to  move  their  property  out  of  reach 
of  the  rising  waters.  An  illustration  of 
.the  efficiency  of  this  system  was  shown 


during  the  great  flood  of  1897.  Through- 
out nearly  the  whole  area  that  was  sub- 
merged the  warning  bulletins  preceded 
the  flood  by  several  days,  and  the  sta- 
tisticians of  the  Government  estimate 
that  $15,000,000  worth  of  live  stock 
and  movable  property  was  removed  to 
high  ground  as  the  result  of  the  fore- 
warnings.  These  warnings  are  dis- 
tributed from  fifteen  river  centers,  at 
each  of  which  a  trained  forecaster  is 
located  who  daily  is  in  possession  of 
such  measurements  of  precipitation  on 
watersheds  and  such  up-river  water 
stages  as  are  necessary  to  enable  him  to 
make  an  intelligent  prediction  for  his 
own  district.  On  account  of  the  recent 
disasters  from  floods  in  the  rivers  pf 
Texas  steps  are  now  being  taken  to  es- 
tablish a  flood-warning  service  specially 
for  that  State. 

Measurements  of  snowfall  in  the  high 
mountain  ridges  of  Montana,  Wyoming, 
Idaho,  Utah,  Arizona,  and  New7  Mexico 
during  the  past  several  years  have  given 
us  information  that  now  enables  us  to 
make  a  very  accurate  estimate  in  the 
spring  as  to  the  supply  of  water  from 
this  source  that  can  be  expected  during 
the  growing  season.  In  this  way  the 
weather  service  has  been  brought  into 
close  contact  with  those  interested  in  irri- 
gation, becoming  a  valuable  aid  to  them. 

The  heavy  responsibility  that  rests 
upon  the  Weather  Bureau  in  the  mak- 
ing of  stof m  warnings  is  gathered  from 
the  statement  that  5,628  transatlantic 
steamers  and  5,842  transatlantic  sailing 
craft  enter  and  leave  ports  on  the  At- 
lantic seaboard  during  a  single  year. 
The  value  of  their  cargoes  is  more  than 
$1,500,000,000.  Our  coastwise  traffic 
is  also  enormous.  In  one  year  more 
than  17,000  sailing  vessels  and  4,000 
steamers  enter  and  leave  port  between 
Maine  and  Florida.  Their  cargoes  are 
estimated  to  be  worth  $7 ,000,000.  From 
these  facts  one  can  readily  measure  the 
value  of  the  marine  property  that  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  through  the 


368         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


Weather  Bureau,  aims  to  protect  by 
giving  warning  of  approaching  storms. 

The  climatology  of  each  State  is  now 
so  well  determined  and  the  information 
is  so  systematically  collated  as  to  be 
drawn  upon  daily  by  thousands  of  those 
engaged  in  public  enterprises,  such  as 
the  building  of  water  works,  where  it  is 
essential  to  know  the  precipitation  on 
given  watersheds  ;  the  building  of  cul- 
verts, where  the  extremes  of  rainfall 
within  short  periods  must  be  known  ; 
the  building  of  great  iron  or  steel  struc- 
tures, where  the  expansion  and  con- 
traction of  metal  with  changes  of  tem- 
perature must  be  accounted  for  ;  the 
speculation  in  land  in  regions  that  are 
not  known  to  the  purchaser,  and  the 
selection  of  residences  for  health  and 
pleasure. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  the 
meteorological  records  daily  appear  in 
numerous  of  the  courts  of  the  land,  and 
that  many  important  cases  at  law  are 
settled  or  greatly  influenced  by  them. 

Under  the  direction  of  Secretary  Wil- 
son, we  have  recently  arranged  with 
Europe  and  the  Azore  Islands  for  the 
receipt  of  meteorological  reports  that, 
in  connection  with  our  present  exten- 
sive system,  enable  us  to  forecast  wind 
direction  and  wind  force  for  transat- 
lantic steamers  for  a  period  of  three 
days  out  from  each  continent.  This  is 
an  extension  of  the  meteorological  sen-- 
ice that  has  long  been  sought  by  mari- 
ners. The  new  German  cable  from 
Lisbon  to  New  York  enables  us  to  get 
direct  communication  with  several  isl- 
ands, the  reports  from  which  are  neces- 
sary in  the  taking  up  of  this  new  and 
important  work. 

Recently  the  Post  Office  Department, 
through  its  rural  mail  delivery,  has 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Weather 
Service  one  of  the  most  efficient  means 
of  bringing  its  daily  forecasts,  frost  and 
cold -wave  warnings  to  the  very  doors 
of  those  who  can  make  the  most  profit- 
able use  of  them.  The  latest  forecast 


of  the  weather  is  printed  on  small  slij 
of  paper,  and  each  carrier  is  giv 
number  equal  to  the  number  of  IK  HIM. 
on  his  rural  route.  Thus  does  the  me- 
teorological service  insinuate  itself  into 
every  avenue  that  promises  efficient  dis 
semination  of  its  reports.  To  be  fore- 
warned is  to  be  forearmed.  The  last 
appropriation  for  the  support  of  the 
Weather  Bureau  was  51,058,320.  It 
is  the  opinion  of  many  insurance  and 
other  experts  that  the  meteorological 
service  of  the  United  States  Govern 
ment  is  worth  over  $20,000,000  annually 
to  the  agriculture,  the  commerce,  and 
the  industry  of  the  country,  and  this 
notwithstanding  the  large  element  of 
error  that  must  for  a  long  time  to  come 
enter  into  its  predictions. 

It  may  be  asked  what  are  the  pros- 
pects for  an  improvement  in  the  accu- 
racy of  the  weather  forecasts  during 
the  coming  century.  To  this  it  may 
be  answered  that  when  our  extensive 
system  of  daily  observations  has  been 
continued  for  another  generation  or 
two  a  Kepler  or  a  Xewton  may  discover 
such  fundamental  principles  underlying 
weather  changes  as  will  make  it  possi- 
ble to  foretell  the  character  of  coming 
seasons.  If  this  discovery  be  ever  made 
it  will  doubtless  be  accomplished  as  the 
result  of  a  comprehensive  study  of  me- 
teorological data  of  long  periods  cover- 
ing some  great  area  like  the  United 
States.  While  we  cannot  make  such 
prediction  today,  we  feel  that  we  are 
laying  the  foundation  of  a  system  that 
will  adorn  the  civili/.ation  of  future 
generations.  At  the  present  time  I 
know  of  no  scientific  man  who  e> 
to  make  long-range  predictions,  and  in 
closing  this  paper  I  would  especially 
caution  the  public  against  the  imposture 
of  charlatans  and  astrologists  who  sim- 
ply prey  upon  the  credulity  of  the  peo- 
ple. I  believe  it  to  be  impossible  for 
any  one  to  make  a  forecast  based  upon 
any  principles  of  physics  or  upon  any 
empiric  rule  in  meteorolgy  for  weeks 


THE    BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY       369 


months  in  advance.  The  Weather 
Bureau  takes  the  public  into  confidence 
in  this  matter,  and  does  not  claim  to  be 
able  to  do  more  than  it  is  possible  to 
accomplish. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Ameri- 
can press,  the  ablest  and  the  most  hero- 
ically honest  of  any  in  the  world,  does 


in  many  cases  not  only  print  the  twad- 
dle of  long-range  weather  forecasting 
frauds,  but  actually  pays  for  the  privi- 
lege. A  large  number  of  our  rural 
press  is  imposed  upon  by  these  fore- 
casts, and  in  publishing  them  become 
the  disseminators  of  gross  error  instead 
of  enlightenment. 


WORK   OF   THE   BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN 

ETHNOLOGY* 

BY  W  J   McGEE,   ETHNOLOGIST   IN   CHARGE 


THE  Bureau  of  American  Eth- 
nology was  created  to  make 
scientific  researches  among  the 
American  aborigines.  The  wrork  is  con- 
ducted under  the  direction  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  but  the  Bureau  is 
maintained  wholly  through  appropria- 
tions by  the  United  States  Government. 
The  office  was  instituted  in  1879,  pri- 
marily for  the  purpose  of  classifying  the 
native  tribes  in  such  manner  as  to  guide 
Federal  and  State  officers  in  grouping 
them  on  reservations  ;  and  accordingly 
the  earlier  researches  were  confined  to 
the  territory  of  the  United  States.  As 
the  work  progressed,  it  was  found  neces- 
sary to  investigate  the  relations  between 
the  tribes  of  this  territory  and  those  of 
neighboring  countries;  and  soon  after  the 
institution  of  the  Bureau  the  inquiries 
were  extended  over  the  entire  continent, 
and  the  appropriations  were  made  for 
continuing  researches  in  ' '  North  Amer- 
ican Ethnology."  Still  later  it  was 
found  that  the  ethnologic  problems  of 
North  America  are  inseparable  from 
those  of  the  Antilles  and  South  America ; 
and  about  1895  the  field  of  research  was 
still  further  extended,  and  the  appro- 
priations are  now  made  for  "American 


Ethnology."  Accordingly  the  present 
field  of  the  Bureau  may  be  defined  as 
the  Western  Hemisphere. 

The  special  researches  among  the  abo- 
riginal tribes  are  necessarily  confined 
largely  to  districts  still  occupied  by  the 
tribesmen(though  attention  is  constantly 
given  to  aboriginal  relics  and  works  in 
districts  now  occupied  by  whites)  ;  and 
the  extent  of  the  operations  is  limited 
by  the  annual  appropriations.  During 
the  past  three  years  field  work  has  been 
conducted  in  about  one- third  of  the  Fed- 
eral States  and  Territories,  while  regular 
or  special  collaborators  have  operated  in 
New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  British 
Columbia,  along  the  Alaskan  frontier, 
and  on  the  western  coast  of  Greenland, 
as  well  as  in  several  Mexican  and  Cen- 
tral American  States — Argentina  and 
Chile.  The  work  is  seldom  of  such 
character  as  to  involve  surveying  or 
original  mapping  ;  but  extensive  eth- 
nologic collections  are  made,  partly  to 
facilitate  research  and  partly  to  illus- 
trate its  results.  The  collections  are 
preserved  in  the  United  States  National 
Museum. 

Designed  primarily  to  develop  a  prac- 
tical classification  of  the  native  tribes,  the 


s  Reprinted    from    "  Verhandlungen    Des   VII.    Internationalen    Geographen-Kongresses  in 
Berlin, "  1899. 


37°         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


earlier  studies  were  necessarily  devoted 
to  tribal  characteristics  rather  than  racial 
features  ;  and  as  the  studies  proceeded 
these  characteristics  were  analyzed  and 
defined  in  such  manner  as  to  yield  a  com- 
prehensive tribal  classification  on  a  new 
basis.  In  its  essential  features  the  clas- 
sification is,  in  the  first  place,  dynamic 
in  that  it  rests  on  the  activities  of  men 
rather  than  on  organic  forms  and  struc- 
tures ;  in  the  second  place,  it  is  demotic 
in  that  it  rests  on  collective  attributes  (or 
on  attributes  of  men  considered  as  con- 
stituents of  tribes  or  other  assemblages) 
rather  than  on  merely  biotic  structures 
and  functions.  In  other  words,  the  press- 
ing need  for  a  practical  classification  of 
the  American  aborigines  compelled  the 
abandonment  of  the  taxonomy  borrowed 
from  biology,  and  led  to  the  development 
of  a  distinctively  anthropologic  classi- 
fication, the  units  of  which  are  human 
groups. 

The  recognition  of  the  activities  as 
essential  characteristics  of  tribes  and 
peoples  leads  to  analysis  of  the  activities 
displayed  by  individuals  and  groups  ; 
and,  with  the  advance  of  knowledge  up 
to  the  present  writing,  the  activities 
have  been  arranged  in  categories  which 
seem  to  be  natural  and  convenient : 
(i)  the  simplest  activities  are  in  large 
part  initially  spontaneous  expressions 
of  hereditary  faculty,  and  may  be  classed 
as  esthetic  ;  (2)  next  follow  the  activi- 
ties reflecting  the  interrelations  between 
the  individual  and  group  (somafikos  and 
demos}  and  their  environment,  which 
may  be  classed  as  industrial  ;  (3)  then 
follow  the  activities  and  superorganic 
(or  institutional)  structures  reflecting 
the  interrelations  among  individuals  and 
groups,  which  may  be  classed  as  social  ; 
(4)  the  simpler  activities,  which  are 
measurably  shared  by  lower  organisms, 
give  shape  to  a  series  of  distinctively 
human  activities,  constantly  exercised 
in  maintaining  and  extending  demotic 
relation,  which  may  be  classed  as  lin- 
guistic ;  and  (5)  the  several  activities 
of  lower  order  produce  a  series  express- 


ing the  sum  of  human  interrelation- 
(comprising  knowledge  and  pseudo- 
knowledge  in  all  aspects),  which  may 
be  classed  as  sophiologic.  The  work  <>t 
the  Bureau  is  organized  on  lines  de- 
fined by  these  normal  categories  of  ac- 
tivities— /'.  e. ,  the  researches  pertain  t<> 
(i)  Esthetology,  (2)  Technology. 
Sociology,  (4)  Philology,  and 
phiology,  respectively.  It  is  held  that 
this  classification  of  anthropology  places 
the  Science  of  Man  on  the  high  plane 
occupied  by  other  sciences  in  their  mod- 
ern or  dynamic  aspects — /.  t.,  in  tlmM. 
aspects  in  which  action  and  sequence 
are  conspicuous  and  characteristic. 

Definition  of  the  activities  renders  it 
possible  to  classify  tribes  and  peoples 
in  terms  of  activital  condition  or  cul- 
ture, and  eventually  to  trace  the  course 
of  human  development.  The  culture 
grades  may  be  expressed  vaguely  in 
terms  of  esthetic  development,  a  little 
more  clearly  in  terms  of  industrial  de- 
velopment, or  much  more  definitely  in 
terms  of  institutional  development;  and 
a  practical  seriation  of  the  course  of 
human  development  has  been  based  on 
the  researches  among  the  American  ab- 
origines and  other  known  peoples.  The 
stages  are  (i  )  savagery,  characterized 
by  consanguineal  organization  througk 
the  maternal  line,  (2)  barbarism,  char- 
acterized by  consanguineal  organization 
through  the  paternal  line,  (3)  civiliza- 
tion, characterized  by  organization  on 
a  territorial  basis,  and  (4)  enlighten- 
ment, characterized  by  organization  on 
a  basis  of  intellectual  rights.  The  cul- 
ture grades  might  be  expressed  still 
more  trenchantly  in  terms  of  linguistic 
development,  and  most  trenchantly  of 
all  in  terms  of  sophiologic  development, 
were  the  data  sufficient;  and  indeed  the 
practical  classification  of  the  aboriginal 
tribes  of  America  rests  on  the  linguistic 
basis.  The  linguistic  activities  were 
adopted  as  criteria  for  the  classification, 
partly  because  of  the  persistence  and 
exoteric  character  (and  hence  the  ready 
obtainability)  of  language,  partly  be- 


THE    BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY       371 


cause  language  is  the  key  to  all  other 
activities;  and  the  wisdom  of  the  choice 
was  soon  demonstrated  by  practical  ap- 
plication of  the  classification — for  it 
was  found  that  tribes  speaking  related 
languages  were  so  nearly  alike  in  arts, 
industries,  social  organization,  and  be- 
lief as  to  live  together  in  harmony, 
while,  if  their  languages  were  unlike, 
their  other  activities,  especially  their 
beliefs,  were  so  incongruous  as  to  pre- 
vent harmonious  association. 

Under  the  linguistic  classification,  the 
aborigines  of  America  north  of  north- 
ern-central Mexico  were  classified,  early 
in  the  present  decade,  in  about  seven 
hundred  and  sixty  tribes,  grouped  in 
sixty  stocks;  and  the  later  researches 
have  served  to  establish  and  somewhat 
to  extend  this  classification. 

The  discrimination  of  the  tribes  and 
the  linguistic  stocks  to  which  they  may 
be  assigned  has  afforded  means  for  trac- 
ing the  history  and  elucidating  the 
movements  of  the  aborigines  with  con- 
siderable success:  and  this  phase  of  the 
work  has  received  especial  attention 
during  the  last  two  years.  The  most 
instructive  example  is  afforded  by  the 
tribes  of  the  Siouan  stocks:  Gathering 
on  the  southern  Atlantic  coast  probably 
three  to  five  centuries  before  Columbus, 
the  parent  tribes  drifted  northward 
along  the  coast,  and  spread  slowly  in- 
land: leaving  the  main  coast  along  the 
middle  Atlantic  estuaries,  they  followed 
Chesapeake  and  other  bays  into  the  in- 
terior, gradually  abandoning  piscatory 
habits,  and  developing  agriculture  in 
connection  with  the  chase;  the  inland 
invasion  brought  them  in  contact  with 
the  buffalo,  and  a  considerable  part  of 
the  people  followed  this  easy  game  west- 
ward across  the  Appalachian  moun- 
tains, and  down  the  westward-flowing 
rivers  to  the  Mississippi,  whence  they 
spread  still  farther  westward,  becoming 
the  buffalo  Indians  par  excellence  of  the 
northern  plains.  Meantime  they  in- 
creased, both  by  normal  growth  and  by 
the  absorption  of  weaker  tribes  and 


tribal  remnants  ;  they  spread  over  an 
area  several  of  hundred  thousand  square 
miles,  and  developed  a  number  of  tribal 
federations,  the  most  noted  being  the 
Dakota  confederacy  of  six  or  seven 
great  tribes.  Quite  similar  appears  to 
have  been  the  growth  of  the  Algon- 
quian-speaking  peoples,  who  occupied 
the  Atlantic  coast  north  of  the  Siouan 
tribes,  and  pushed  inland  along  various 
rivers  from  the  Susquehanna  to  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  drifted  thence  westward 
along  the  Great  Lakes  and  over  the 
plains  adjacent,  displacing  or  absorbing 
alien  tribes,  and  forming  various  con- 
federacies as  they  spread  over  the  vast 
interior  territory.  Similar,  too,  save 
in  extent  of  migration,  was  the  growth 
of  the  Iroquois  confederacy  which, 
within  the  period  of  three  to  five  cen- 
turies terminated  by  white  settlement, 
pursued  a  career  of  assimilation  in  which 
they  extended  territorial  holding,  ab- 
sorbed a  large  but  unknown  number  of 
inimical  tribes,  pressed  hard  against 
neighboring  Siouan  and  Algonquian  peo- 
ples, and  developed  one  of  the  best  or- 
ganized and  best  known  of  the  native 
American  confederacies,  the  famous 
Iroquois  League.  These  examples  il- 
lustrate the  demotic  development  and 
geographic  history  of  the  aborigines  of 
eastern  America;  a  growth  and  history 
which  may  be  summed  in  the  statement 
that  the  greater  peoples  represented  by 
the  principal  linguistic  stocks  appear  to 
have  originated  on  the  coast  and  spread 
inland,  acquiring  a  crude  agriculture, 
creating  elaborate  social  institutions, 
and  developing  intelligence  to  a  degree 
corresponding  to  the  esthetic  and  in- 
dustrial and  social  growth. 

Quite  different  are  the  conditions  on 
the  Pacific  coast,  where  nine-tenths  of 
the  aboriginal  linguistic  stocks  are  con- 
centrated in  one-tenth  of  the  area;  here 
the  peoples  are  subsedentary  (or  lim- 
ited in  range),  generally  of  restricted 
social  organization,  and  of  specialized 
or  localized  industries  and  arts,  while 
the  intelligence  is  of  correspondingly 


372 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


low  onlc-r.  When  the  Pacific  coast  ab- 
origines are  compared  with  those  of  the 
Atlantic  coast  and  the  interior,  they 
are  found  notably  more  primitive  in 
activital  development ;  their  activities 
were-  autochthonal  and  narrow,  while 
those  of  their  eastern  contemporaries 
were  broadly  provincial  ;  and  in  most 
other  respects  they  occupied  a  far 
lower  cultural  plane  than  that  of  the 
Vigorous  Algonquian  and  Iroquoian  and 
vSiouan  peoples  of  the  eastern  plains 
and  shores.  It  is  significant,  too,  that 
the  prehistoric  relics  of  the  Atlantic 
coast  are  much  more  abundant  and 
seem  to  attest  a  longer  and  more  varied 
occupancy  than  the  corresponding  relics 
of  the  Pacific  belt.  Briefly,  the  re- 
searches concerning  movements  of  tribes 
and  peoples  show  that  the  American 
aborigines  cannot  be  treated  as  a  unit 
in  the  stud)'  of  migrations,  or  of  the 
peopling  of  the  various  parts  of  the 
continent ;  at  the  same  time  they  have 
thrown  much  light  on  the  actual  lines 
of  development  and  movement  of  the 
aborigines  during  the  centuries  preced- 
ing the  discovery  by  Columbus. 

The  definition  of  the  culture  stages 
and  the  recognition  of  the  lines  of  growth 
and  migration  of  tribes  and  confedera- 
cies throws  some  light  on  the  question 
as  to  the  origin  of  the  aborigines,  and 
removes  the  inquiry  from  the  domain 
of  pure  speculation.  Summarily  it  may 
be  noted,  first,  that  the  various  lines  of 
activital  development  are  convergent, 
and,  second,  that  the  history  of  every 
known  tribe  or  confederacy  is  a  record 
of  interclan  or  intertribal  blending  and 
union.  Accordingly,  the  course  of  ab- 
original development  in  America  during 
prehistoric  times  can  be  pictured  only 
by  a  series  of  convergent  and  inter- 
blending  lines,  coming  up  from  a  large 
but  unknown  number  of  original  sources 
scattered  along  the  various  coasts  of  the 
continent. 

It  has  not  yet  been  found  possible 
to  reduce  the  period  of  aboriginal  oc- 
cupancy of  the  Western  Hemisphere 


either  to  the  accepted  units  of  chronol- 
ogy or  to  the  time-scale  of  geology. 
Various  observers  have  reported  human 
relics  from  different  geologic  deposits 
ranging  in  age  from  Miocene  to  late 
Pleistocene  ;  but  the  more  critical  re- 
searches of  the  Bureau  (conducted 
partly  in  cooperation  with  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey;  have  shown 
that  the  evidence  of  association  is  mani- 
festly erroneous  in  nearly  all  cases,  and 
inconclusive  in  all.  The  latest  special 
researches  relating  to  the  antiquity  of 
man  were  conducted  in  the  autumn  of 
1898,  in  the  gold  belt  and  Table-moun- 
tain zone  of  California,  whence  various 
human  relics  have  been  reported  from 
Tertiary  formations  ;  the  inquiries  only- 
served  to  reveal  the  various  sources  of 
error  by  which  the  original  observers 
were  not  unnaturally  misled.  The  chro- 
nologic inquiries  indicate  occupancy 
of  various  districts  several  centuries  be- 
fore the  coming  of  white  men,  but  there 
is  nothing  to  indicate,  with  any  strong 
degree  of  probability,  an  occupancy  of 
more  than  fifty  or  sixty  centuries — the 
body  of  phenomena  indicating  a  much 
briefer  period  of  habitation  than  that 
attested  by  the  more  abundant  and 
varied  relics  of  the  Eurasian  continent. 
In  brief,  there  is  no  unmistakable  indi- 
cation of  human  occupancy  of  the  West- 
ern Hemisphere  during  any  of  the  geo- 
logic periods  as  commonly  defined,  nor 
more  than  a  very  few  millenniums  before 
the  landing  of  Columbus. 

During  the  year  (1898)  the  collabora- 
tors of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnol- 
ogy, with  several  other  American  an- 
thropologists, have  found  it  convenient 
to  apply  a  distinctive  term  to  the  aborig- 
ines of  the  American  hemisphere,  viz., 
Amerind.  The  term  is  susceptible  of 
use  in  different  grammatic  forms,  and 
does  not  involve  confusion  with  the 
modern  population  of  Caucasian  deriva- 
tion. It  is  applied  collectively  to  the 
several  aboriginal  tribes  and  tribesmen 
of  the  American  hemisphere,  including 
the  Eskimo. 


BOUNDARIES    OF    TERRITORIAL    ACQUISI- 
TIONS 


THE  Report  of  ' '  a  conference  upon 
the  boundaries  of  the  successive 
acquisitions  of  territory  by  the 
United  States ' '  has  been  published  by 
the  Census  Bureau.*  The  conference 
was  appointed,  at  the  request  of  the 
Census  Office,  as  an  advisory  commit- 
tee, in  the  hope  that  certain  discrepan- 
cies between  different  branches  of  the 
Government  might  be  harmonized.  The 
main  conclusions  of  the  conference  are 
summarized  by  the  chairman,  Walter  F. 
Wilcox,  as  follows  : 

"  i .  The  region  between  the  Missis- 
sippi River  and  Lakes  Maurepas  and 
Pontchartrain  to  the  west  and  the  Per- 
dido  River  to  the  east  should  not  be  as- 
signed either  to  the  Louisiana  Purchase 
or  to  the  Florida  Purchase,  but  marked 
with  a  legend  indicating  that  title  to  it 
between  1803  and  1819  \vas  in  dispute. 

"2.  The  line  between  the  Mississippi 
River  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  sep- 
arating the  territory  of  the  United  States 
prior  to  1803  from  the  Louisiana  Pur- 
chase, should  be  drawn  from  the  most 
northwestern  point  of  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods  to  the  nearest  point  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  in  Lake  Bemidji. 

"3.  The  western  boundary  of  the 
Louisiana  Purchase  bet  ween  49°  and  42° 
north  followed  the  watershed  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  ;  thence  it  ran  east 
along  the  parallel  of  42°  north  to  a  point 
due  north  of  the  source  of  the  Arkansas 
River,  and  thence  south  to  that  source. 

' '  4.  The  northwestern  boundary  of 
Texas  as  annexed  extended  up  the  prin- 
cipal stream  of  the  Rio  Grande  to  its 
source  and  thence  due  north  to  the  par- 
allel of  4>°  north. 

"5.  The  southern  boundary  of  the 
Mexican  Cession  of  1848  should  be 
drawn  from  a  point  on  the  Rio  Grande 

*  Census  Bulletin  Xo.  74. 


eight  miles  north  of  Paso,  instead  of  from 
one  about  30  miles  farther  north,  as  is 
the  usual  practice  at  present,  west  three 
degrees,  and  thence  north  to  the  first 
branch  of  the  Gila  River." 

The  conference  report  was  signed  by 
Walter  F.  Wilcox,  representing  the  Cen- 
sus Office  ;  Andrew  H.  Allen,  repre- 
senting the  Department  of  State  ;  O.  H. 
Tittmann,  representing  the  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey  ;  Henry  Gannett,  rep- 
resenting the  Geological  Survey,  and 
P.  Lee  Phillips,  representing  the  Library 
of  Congress.  The  findings  of  the  con- 
ference have  no  official  standing,  but  are 
entitled  to  great  weight,  owing  to  the 
distinguished  names  signing  the  report. 

The  territorial  acquisitions  concerning 
the  boundaries  of  which  discrepancies 
had  been  noted  were  considered  by  the 
conference  in  chronological  order. 

THE    LOUISIANA    PURCHASE 

The  Louisiana  Purchase  was  thus 
first  considered,  and  the  situation  dis- 
covered was,  briefly,  that  the  territory 
came  into  the  possession  of  the  United 
States  through  the  Treaty  of  1 803  with 
France,  having  the  same  extent  as  when 
ceded  by  France  to  Spain  in  1763,  and 
as  when  retroceded  to  France  by  Spain 
by  the  Treaty  of  San  Ildefonso,  of  Octo- 
ber i,  1800.  To  ascertain  the  extent 
of  this  territory  eastward,  the  confer- 
ence examined  the  several  well-known 
authorities  upon  the  early  history  of 
Louisiana — Marbois,  Ellicott,  Gayarre, 
Darby,  Stoddard,  and  others  ;  the  trea- 
ties involved  ;  letters  of  Monroe,  Jeffer- 
son, and  Talleyrand  ;  certain  maps  ;  the 
text  of  the  grant  toCrozat  by  Louis  XIV, 
in  1712  ;  the  presentation  of  the  case  by 
the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land 
Office  in  hisvolume  entitled  "TheLouis- 
iana  Purchase;"  etc.  This  examina- 


374 


NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


tion  failed,  however,  to  enable  the  con- 
ference to  determine  the  dispute  about 
the  territory  between  the  Mississippi 
and  Perdido  Rivers,  claimed  alike  by 
Spain  and  France,  and  afterwards  by 
the  United  States,  and  finally  released 
by  Spain  in  the  Treaty  of  1819,  in  lan- 
guage assigning  no  limits  to  West  Flor- 
ida. The  conference  concluded  that  the 
boundary  line  of  this  territory  at  the 
Mississippi  River,  as  claimed  by  Spain, 
should  be  so  defined  by  a  legend  on  the 
map,  and  that  the  boundary  line  at  the 
Perdido  River,  as  claimed  by  the  United 
vStates,  should  be  similarly  indicated. 
This  conclusion  was  reached  with  an 
understanding  or  admission  of  the  fol- 
lowing facts  touching  the  territory  be- 
tween the  two  rivers  claimed  by  Spain 
as  a  part  of  West  Florida  :  That  the  ter- 
ritory of  Louisiana,  as  described  by 
France  and  granted  to  Crozat  by  Louis 
XIV,  extended  on  the  east  to  the  River 
Mobile,  which,  with  the  port,  was  ceded 
specifically  by  France  to  England  by  the 
Treat}1  of  Paris  in  1763,  Spain  at  the 
same  time  ceding  the  Floridas  to  Great 
Britain,  with  St.  Augustine  and  the  bay 
of  Pensacola — thus,  inferentially atleast, 
determining  the  respective  boundaries  of 
Louisiana  and  West  Florida  ;  that  the 
first  occupation  of  the  interior  of  the  ter- 
ritory between  the  Rivers  Mississippi 
and  Perdido  by  the  Spaniards  was  dur- 
ing the  war  of  the  American  Revolution, 
when  it  belonged  to  Great  Britain  ;  that 
Great  Britain  retroceded  the  Floridas  to 
Spain  in  1783,  at  which  time  the  Louis- 
iana territory  belonged  to  Spain  by  the 
French  cession  in  the  preliminaries  of 
peace  of  1762  (confirmed  in  1763), 
whereby  ' '  all  the  country  known  under 
the  nameof  Louisiana"  was  transferred  ; 
that  Spain  in  1 800  retroceded  Louisiana 
to  France  as  it  was  received  from  France 
in  1763  ;  that  France  in  1803  ceded  the 
territory  of  Louisiana  to  the  United 
States,  as  discovered  and  held  by  France, 
ceded  to  Spain,  and  retroceded  to  France : 
and.  finally,  that  in  1819  Spain  ceded  to 


the  United  States  all  the  territory  held  or 
claimed  by  His  Catholic  Majesty  under 
the  names  of  Hast  and  West  Florida. 
In  addition  to  the  grounds  of  dispute  be- 
tween France  and  Spain,  and  the  United 
States  and  Spain,  here  shown,  there  \va- 
a  conflicting  claim  concerning  the  extent 
of  West  Florida,  born  of  the  contention 
between  French  and  Spanish  discoverers 
and  settlers  in  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries  ;  and  there  was  also  the 
claim  of  the  French,  by  right  of  La 
Salle's  descent  of  the  Mississippi  in  1682, 
to  ' '  all  the  country  drained  by  that 
river. ' ' 

With  reference  to  the  Louisiana 
boundary,  there  remained  but  one  point 
of  difference  between  the  maps  under 
consideration.  Article  II  of  the  defini- 
tive Treaty  of  Peace  of  1783  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
after  defining  the  northern  boundary 
to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  continues 
as  follows :  "  .  .  .  Thence  through 
the  said  lake  to  the  most  northwestern 
point  thereof,  and  from  thence  on  a  due 
west  course  to  the  River  Mississippi." 
Such  a  line  as  that  described  being  ob- 
viously impossible,  the  Mississippi  River 
being  south  not  west  of  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods,  the  line  drawn  by  the  confer- 
ence was  a  line  from  the  most  north- 
western point  of  that  lake  to  the  nearest 
point  on  the  Mississippi.  This  line  the 
conference  regarded  as  justified  by  rules 
of  international  law  and  practice  respect- 
ing vaguely  described  boundaries  in 
such  topographical  circumstances. 

THE  OREGON  TERRITORY 

The  Oregon  Territory  was  the  next 
subject  to  receive  the  attention  of  the 
conference.  There  seemed  to  be  noth- 
ing in  the  history  of  that  part  of  our 
possessions  to  warrant  mention  of  the 
claim  of  Spain  rather  than  that  of  Great 
Britain,  and  the  final  settlement  of  the 
question  of  sovereignty  and  boundaries 
by  the  Treaty  of  1846,  fixing  the  49th 
parallel,  "by  an  amicable  compromise," 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


as  the  northern  boundary  west  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  seemed  to  be  a  recog- 
nition by  the  United  States  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  British  pretensions  suf- 
ficient to  warrant  mention  on  the  map. 
The  Treaty  of  1 8 1 9  (the  Florida  Cession ) 
had  already  served  as  a  conclusive  re- 
linquishment  by  Spain  of  any  claim  in 
this  quarter.  Therefore  the  conference, 
considering  these  facts,  together  with 
the  historical  narrative  of  discoveries 
and  occupations  on  the  northwest  coast 
of  America  by  both  Spanish  and  British 
explorers  and  adventurers,  and  the  part 
played  by  traders,  explorers,  and  set- 
tlers from  the  United  States  within  the 
territory  known  under  the  name  of  Ore- 
gon in  the  eighteenth  century,  deter- 
mined to  place  as  a  legend  on  the  face 
of  the  map,  to  describe  briefly  and  with 
historical  accuracy  the  area  in  question, 
the  following  words  :  Oregon  Territory- 
discovered  and  settled  ;  British  -  claim 
extinguished,  1846. 

TEXAS 

Texas  was  next  in  order  for  discus- 
sion and  determination,  and  the  confer- 
ence decided,  almost  without  debate, 
that  the  northwestern  boundary  of  that 
territory,  as  admitted  to  statehood  in 
the  Union,  should  be  that  defined  on  the 
map  of  the  General  Land  Office — the 
line  there  shown  coinciding  closely  with 
the  line  on  the  Disturnell  "  Map  of  the 
United  Mexican  States,"  1847,  filed 
with  the  Treaty  of  1 848  as  a  part  of  that 
convention. 

THE  FIRST  MEXICAN  CESSION 

The  southern  boundary  of  the  United 
States  west  of  the  Rio  Grande,  1848, 
was  determined  in  the  same  manner 
but  with  a  different  result,  the  line 
adopted  being  that  indicated  t>n  the 
Disturnell  map,  according  to  the  con- 
ference's interpretation  of  that  chart. 
The  facts  are  adequately  stated  by 
Major  Emory  at  page  16  of  his  Report 


on  the  United  States  and  Mexican 
Boundary  Survey,  volume  i,  as  follows: 

"  It  is  proper  for  me,  however,  be- 
fore closing  this  chapter,  to  refer  t<  >  a 
publication  issued  by  Mr.  J.  R.  Bart- 
lett,  one  of  the  late  commissioner  .MI 
the  part  of  the  United  States,  which 
professes  to  give  an  accurate  account 
of  the  affairs  of  the  commission.  It  is 
not  my  purpose  to  review  that  work, 
and  expose  its  errors,  but  simply  to  cor- 
rect some  statements  affecting  myself. 

"  Mr.  Bartlett's  principal  achieve- 
ment on  the  boundary  was  the  agree- 
ment with  General  Conde,  the  Mexican 
commissioner,  fixing  the  initial  point 
on  the  Rio  Bravo  (7.  e. ,  Rio  Grande), 
in  the  parallel  of  32°  22',  instead  of  a 
point  as  laid  down  on  the  treaty  map, 
about  eight  miles  above  El  Paso,  which 
would  have  brought  it  to  the  parallel 
of  31°  52'.  That  agreement  is  no  less 
remarkable  than  the  adroitness  and  suc- 
cess with  which  Mr.  Bartlett  convinced 
the  authorities  at  Washington  of  its 
correctness. 

"  The  question  has  been  so  thor- 
oughly discussed  that  a  reproduction 
of  it  is  not  called  for.  It  is  sufficient 
to  say  here  that  it  was  disapproved  by 
the  astronomer  and  surveyor  on  the 
commission  at  the  time,  and  was  finally 
repudiated  by  the  Government. 

"  .  .  .  My  signature  as  surveyor 
was  only  required,  as  alleged,  to  perfect 
the  official  documents  ;  the  words  of 
the  order  were :  '  You  will  sign  the 
map  of  the  initial  point  agreed  upon  by 
the  two  commissioners. ' 

"  By  reference  to  the  treaty  it  will  l>c 
seen  that  any  agreement  of  the  kind 
required  the  action  of  the  joint  com- 
mission, and  that  the  joint  commission 
was  to  be  composed  not  only  of  the  two 
commissioners,  but  of  the  two  survey- 
ors also. 

"  I  refused  to  recognize  the  act  as 
that  of  the  joint  commission,  and 
signed  the  map  as  the  order  directed, 
carefully  and  studiously  attaching  a 


BOUNDARIES   OF    TERRITORIAL   ACQUISITIONS      377 


certificate  that  it  was  the  initial  point 
of  the  two  commissioners;  and  to  pre- 
vent the  possibility  of  misconstruction, 
an  agreement  in  writing  was  entered 
into  with  Mr.  Salazar,  and  our  signa- 
tures attested  by  witnesses, showing  that 
the  map  was  only  that  of  the  boundary 
agreed  upon  by  the  two  commissioners, 
and  nothing  else. 

"This  course,  while  it  permitted  me 
to  obey  a  specific  order  in  writing  from 
a  superior,  left  the  Government  free  to 
act,  and  repudiate  the  agreement  by  the 
two  commissioners,  as  it  subsequently 
did." 

As  the  line  on  the  Disturnell  map 
delimiting  the  southern  boundary  of 
the  United  States  under  the  Treaty  of 
1848  is  identical  with  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  territory  purchased  in 
1853,  the  conference  next  arrived  at 
the  point  of  considering 

THE   GADSDEN    PURCHASE 

An  examination  of  the  treaties,  of  the 
report  of  Major  W.  H.  Emory,"  already 


referred  to  and  quoted,  and  other  evi- 
dence, together  with  a  study  of  the  treaty 
map,  developed  the  fact  that  the  repu- 
diated line  agreed  to  by  one  of  the  United 
States  commissioners,  Mr.  J.  R.  Bart- 
lett,  and  the  Mexican  commissioner. 
General  Conde,  seems  to  have  been 
adopted  by  the  General  Land  Office, 
though  after  having  been  run  only  one 
and  one- half  degrees  west  from  the  point 
of  beginning,  about  38  miles  north  of 
Paso,  the  survey  was  abandoned  and  the 
line  repudiated  by  the  Government  of 
the  United  States.  The  line  indicated 
by  the  treaty  or  Disturnell  map  begins 
at  a  point  about  eight  miles  north  of 
Paso  or  El  Paso,  runs  west  three  degrees 
on  a  parallel,  and  thence  north  on  a  me- 
ridian to  the  first  branch  of  the  Gila 
River.  This  line  was  adopted  by  the 
conference  as  the  eastern  part  of  the 
northern  boundary  of  the  Gadsden  Pur- 
chase. The  conclusion  was  reached  after 
consideration  of  Mr.  Bartlett's  claims, 
Major  Emory's  report,  the  action  of  the 
Government,  and  the  treaty  map. 


THE  GERMAN  SOUTH   POLAR  EXPEDITION 

BY  DR.  GEORG  KOLLM,  EDITOR   AND  SECRETARY  OF  THE 
GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY   AT   BERLIN 


THE  object  of  the  German  Ant- 
arctic expedition  is  the  scien- 
tific exploration  of  the  South 
Polar  regions,  particularly  on  its  Indo- 
Atlantic  side. 

In  pursuance  of  this  object,  it  left 
Germany  on  the  nth  of  August,  1901, 
and  is  proceeding  to  Three  Island  Har- 
bor, Royal  Sound,  in  the  Kerguelen 
Islands,  where  a  base  station  will  be  es- 
tablished. In  December,  1901,  it  is  ex- 
pected that  the  expedition  will  be  ready 
for  its  real  work  of  exploration  and  will 
push  on  toward  the  south  as  far  as  prac- 


ticable. Should  land  be  reached,  a  sta- 
tion will  be  founded  and  maintained  for 
a  year  and  the  ship  wintered  there. 
Whether  any  later  attempt  to  push  still 
farther  south  will  be  made  is  not  yet  de- 
termined. It  will  not,  at  all  events,  be 
undertaken  unless  the  conditions  should 
prove  particularly  favorable. 

The  expedition  has  general  orders  to 
remain  until  its  tasks  are  satisfactorily 
executed,  but  in  any  case  not  to  remain 
beyond  June,  1904,  at  which  date  it 
must  report  at  some  harbor  in  commu- 
nication with  home.  Should  no  news 


378         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


be  received  of  the  expedition  by  the  first 
of  June  of  that  year,  it  will  be  in  order 
to  consider  the  expediency  of  fitting  out 
a  relief  ship. 

The  leader  of  the  expedition,  Dr.  Erich 
von  Drygalski,  of  Berlin,  was  appointed 
by  His  Majesty  the  Emperor,  and  has 
thoroughly  studied  the  problems  of 
South  Polar  regions.  He  has  been 
placed  in  absolute  control  of  the  South 
Polar  ship  Gauss,  its  personnel  and 
equipment.  All  the  arrangements  for 
the  work  to  be  carried  on  from  the  time 
the  ship  left  Germany  are  under  his 
direction  and  subject  entirely  to  his 
control.  Marine  laws  regulate  the  po- 
sition of  the  ship's  company  toward  its 
leader. 

The  expedition  is  an  undertaking  of 
the  German  Empire,  and  is  fitted  out 
through  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the 
Interior,  Herr  Dr.  Graf  von  Posadowsky- 
Wehner.  It  sails  under  the  Imperial 
Service  flag,  and  its  officers  and  men 
bear  special  service  designations  author- 
ized from  the  highest  quarters.  It  is 
thoroughly  well  equipped,  both  scientif- 
ically and  practically,  for  its  ($10,000; 
mission.  In  addition  to  the  funds  pro- 
vided by  the  Empire,  about  40,000  marks 
in  small  amounts  have  been  contrib- 
uted by  private  societies.  The  interest 
aroused  in  the  expedition  throughout 
the  Empire  has  been  very  great,  and  has 
led  to  tke  presentation  of  many  valuable 
gifts  and  offerings  which  will  add  much 
to  the  efficiency  of  the  equipment. 

All  the  members  of  the  expedition 
will  be  paid  their  regular  and  special 
remuneration  from  the  imperial  funds. 
They  are  also  well  insured  against  ac- 
cidents and  diseases  caused  by  the  cli- 
mate. Risks  too  great  for  ordinary 
marine  insurance  companies  to  assume 
are  borne  by  the  Empire. 

The  results  of  the  expedition  and  the 
collections  made  by  it  will  be  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Empire,  which  will  assume 
charge  of  their  disposal.  The  scientific 
members  of  the  expedition  will  be  em- 


ployed in  the  arrangement  of  the-  col- 
lections in  such  manner  as  their  useful- 
ness on  the  expedition  warrants.  They 
have  to  address  all  their  suggestions  and 
desires  to  the  leader  of  the  expedition, 
who  will  make  all  further  arrangement*. 
The  personnel  of  the  expedition,  be- 
side the  leader,  who  will  conduct  the 
oceanographical  and  geodetic  work,  are 
as  follows  : 

a.  The  scientific  members  :   Prof.  Dr. 
K.    Vanhoffen,   Kiel,   for   /oology    and 
botany;  Dr.  H.  Gazert,  Munich,  physi- 
cian and  bacteriologist;  Dr.  E.  Philippi, 
Breslau,  for  geology  and  chemistry;  Dr. 
F.    Bidlingmaier,    Lauffen,    for   earth- 
magnetism  and  meteorology. 

b.  The  commander  of  the   Gauss,  a 
captain  of  the  Hamburg- American  line, 
Hans  Ruser,  from  Hamburg,  who  was 
selected   with  the    permission    of     His 
Majesty  the  Emperor. 

c.  The  ship's   officers :    W.   Lerche, 
from  Stettin,   first  officer  ;   R.   Vahsel, 
from  Hanover,  second  officer,  both  from 
the  Hamburg-American  line;    L.   Ott, 
from  Hochst,  second  officer  ;  A.  Stehr, 
from  Hamburg,  first  engineer. 

t/.  The  crew  of  the  Gauss,  which  con- 
sists of  two  assistant  engineers,  two  ma- 
chinists, two  boatmen,  one  Norwegian 
pilot,  one  cook,  one  steward,  6  seamen, 
and  five  stokers — in  all,  20  men. 

e.  The  personnel  selected  for  the  Ker- 
guelen  station  consists  of  Dr.  E.  Werth, 
from  Minister,  as  biologist  ;  Dr.  K. 
Luyken,  from  Munich,  as  meteorolo- 
gist, and  two  seamen. 

The  Kerguelen  station  is  chiefly  in- 
tended for  magnetic  and  meteorological 
observations,  which,  as  well  as  similar 
work  conducted  by  the  German  Chief 
expedition,  will  be  carried  on  in  accord- 
ance with  the  international  program 
agreed  on  with  England.  This  program 
has  been  sent  to  all  States  having  mag- 
netic-meteorological stations,  as  well  as 
to  the  stations  themselves,  with  the  re- 
quest for  cooperation.  Many  have  al- 
ready signified  their  readiness  to  do  so. 


NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC    SOCIETY   CALENDAR       379 


It  will  also  be  followed  at  the  station 
established  by  the  Argentine  Republic 
on  Staten  Island.  Cooperation  in  all 
other  sciences  with  the  English  expedi- 


tion and  all  other  expeditions  to  be  sent 
out  by  other  States  has  been  regulated 
in  the  best  manner  by  the  division  into 
spheres  of  work. 


NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  SOCIETY  CALEN- 
DAR, 1901-1902 


AT  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Man- 
agers, held  on  September  28,  the 
Lecture  Committee  reported  an 
attractive  provisional  program  for  the 
season  of  1901-1902.  It  provides  for 
continuing  the  three  classes  of  meetings, 
viz  :  Technical  Meetings,  to  be  held  in 
the  Assembly  Hair  of  Cosmos  Club; 
Popular  Lectures,  to  be  delivered  in  the 
First  Congregational  Church,  and  After- 
noon Lectures,  to  be  delivered  in  Colum- 
bia Theater. 

A  program  for  the  earlier  part  of  the 
season  will  be  issued  to  members  about 
October  10. 

Subject  to  transposition  in  dates,  the 
calendar  proposed  for  November  and 
December  is  as  follows  : 

November  i . — Technical  Meeting:  Sym- 
posium on  the  Growth  and  Pros- 
pects of  the  Society  ;  President 
Graham  Bell,  followed  by  Prof. 
Angelo  Heilprin  and  others. 

November  8. — Popular  Meeting  :  Near- 
est Lands  to  the  Pole ;  H.  L.  Bridg- 
man,  Vice-President,  Arctic  Club. 

November  15. — Technical  Meeting: 
The  Lost  Boundary  of  Texas ; 
Marcus  Baker,  Cartographer  U.  S. 
Geological  Survey. 

November  22. — Popular  Meeting  :  In- 
terior Borneo  ;  Dr.  A.  C.  Haddon, 
of  Oxford,  England. 

November  29. — Technical  Meeting: 
Subjects  to  be  announced  later. 

December  6. — Popular  Meeting  :  A 
Winter  in  Ellesmereland  ;  Dr.  Rob- 
ert Stein. 


December  13. — Technical  Meeting :  Sub- 
jects to  be  announced  later. 

December  20. — Popular  Meeting  :  A 
Half-century's  Immigration  ;  Hon. 
E.  F.  McSweeney,  Assistant  Com- 
missioner of  Immigration. 

December  27. — Holiday  vacation. 

Lectures  in  contemplation  for  later 
Popular  Meetings  are  :  Conditions  and 
Prospects  in  the  Philippines,  by  Gen. 
A.  W.  Greely  ;  The  Trans-Siberian 
Railway,  by  Hon.  Ebenezer  J.  Hill  ; 
Cliff  Dwellings  of  Mesa  Verde,  by 
Mrs.  John  Hays  Hammond  ;  The  Appa- 
lachian Forest  Reserve,  by  Hon.  James 
Wilson,  Secretary  of  Agriculture  ;  The 
Chinese  Problem  ;  Sweden  Today,  by 
William  Eleroy  Curtis  ;  The  Nicara- 
guan  Canal ;  The  Great  Pyramid,  by 
Prof.  W.  Edwin  Priest  ;  Colombia  ; 
Pacific  Cables,  Actual  and  Proposed  ; 
The  Danish  Islands  ;  Japanese  Art  and 
Literature,  together  with  other  topics 
rendered  timely  by  circumstances. 

The  general  subject  for  the  After- 
noon, or  Lenten,  Lectures  is  "  Problems 
of  the  Pacific."  The  dates  and  special 
topics  proposed  are  : 

Wednesday,  February  19. — Japan. 

Wednesday,  February  26. — Hawaii. 

Wednesday,  March  5. — Polynesia. 

Wednesday,  March  12. — Australia  and 
New  Zealand. 

Wednesday,  March  19. — Physical  Feat- 
ures of  the  Great  Oceanic  Basin. 

Wednesday,  March  26. — The  Pacific  as 
a  Factor  in  World-Growth. 


GEOGRAPHIC    NO  IKS 


AGRICULTURAL  EXPORTS 

THE  distribution  of  the  agricultural 
exports  of  the  United  States  for 
the  years  1896  to  1900  are  given  in  a 
recent  report  of  Frank  H.  Hitchcock, 
Chief  of  the  Division  of  Foreign  Markets 
of  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  The 
figures  show  that  during  the  year  1900 
there  were  twelve  countries  to  each  of 
which  the  United  States  exported  over 
$10,000,000  worth  of  domestic  farm 
produce.  A  total  of  $408,000,000  was 
purchased  by  the  United  Kingdom,  while 
Germany  bought  $134,000,000  worth. 
The  agricultural  exports  of  the  country 
to  the  United  Kingdom  during  the  year 
were  the  greatest  on  record,  excepting 
those  of  the  year  1 898,  when  a  total  value 
of  $439,000,000  was  reached.  In  regard 
to  Germany,  the  exports  show  an  in- 
crease of  about  100  per  cent  in  the  five- 
year  period.  Following  the  countries 
above  named  come  others  in  the  posi- 
tions indicated  : 

The  Netherlands,  $52,000,000  ;  these 
figures  being  exceeded  only  in  1 899  by 
less  than  $1,000,000;  France,  $45,000, 
ooo;  Belgium,  $33,000,000,  as  against 
$31,000,000  in  1896  to  France  and  $18, 
000,000  to  Belgium  during  the  same 
year;  Italy,  $24,000,000;  Canada,  $21, 
000,000;  Japan,  over  $15,000, ooo;  Den- 
mark, nearly  $15,000,000;  Cuba,  $14, 
000,000,  as  against  $4,000,000  in  1896; 
Spain,  $10,500,000,  as  against  a  trifle 
less  than  $10,000,000  in  1896;  British 
Africa,  $10,300,000.  Exports  ranging 
in  value  from  $5,515,000  down  went  to 
more  than  a  dozen  different  countries. 

The  total  exports  of  domestic  farm 
products  to  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  Hawaii, 
and  the  Philippines  in  the  year  1900 
attained  an  aggregate  value  of  over 
$20,000,000,  an  increase  of  some  300 
per  cent  over  the  year  1 896.  In  the  case 
of  South  America,  however,  the  total 
showed  a  decline.  A  very  striking  gain 
was  made  on  the  Asiatic  Continent, 
where  the  exports  in  value  rose  from 
$5,735,000111  1 896  to  $9, 452, ooo  in  1900. 


Traffic  on  the  Suez  Canal. — Only  two 
of  the  nations  having  any  commercial 
marine  had  a  lower  record  than  the 
United  States  in  the  amount  of  shipping 
passing  through  the  Suez  Canal  la>t 
year.  The  United  States  stood  twelfth 
on  the  list  of  nations,  with  only  .6  of 
i  per  cent  of  the  shipping  passing 
through  the  canal,  and  the  two  nations 
below  that  were  Turkey,  with  .3  of  i 
per  cent,  and  Belgium,  at  .  i  of  i  per 
cent.  Even  nations  like  Japan,  Italy, 
Spain,  Denmark,  and  Norway  exceeded 
our  record,  while  Great  Britain  had  56.7 
per  cent,  and  Germany  15  per  cent. 

No  News  of  Captain  Sverdrup  and  the 
Fram  is  brought  back  by  the  Peary  re- 
lief ship  Erik.  At  Disco  Inspector  Jan- 
sen  and  Governor  Neilson  reported  that 
in  March,  1901,  a  steamer  was  seen  far 
off  the  shore,  in  Davis  Straits,  heading 
northward,  which  might  have  been  the 
Fram.  Peary's  failure  to  meet  her  or 
discover  any  trace  of  her  work  in  his 
Greenland  coast  journeys  lends  color  to 
the  generally  accepted  theory  that,  find- 
ing a  high  northern  latitude  impracti- 
cable, she  has  attempted  the  upper 
Jones  Sound  and  the  little  known  lands 
and  waters  to  the  westward. 

The  Expedition  sent  out  by  the  Duke 
of  Abruzzi  to  search  for  the  three  lost 
members  of  his  Polar  expedition  has  re- 
turned without  finding  any  traces  of  the 
missing  men.  The  southern  coast  of 
Franz  Josef  Land  having  been  explored 
without  avail,  the  memorial  to  the  three 
men  arranged  for  by  the  Duke  was 
erected  on  Cape  Flora. 

Dr.  Robert  Stein,  who  embarked  at  Etah 
in  the  Windward  about  the  time  of  the 
sailing  of  the  Peary  party,  has  reported 
the  safe  arrival  of  that  vessel  at  Brigus, 
Newfoundland. 

Erratum. — Page  326,  first  column,  line 
10,  instead  of  Gerhard  "  Kaufmann  " 
read  Gerhard  Kremer. 


VOL.  XII,  No.  ii 


WASHINGTON 


NOVEMBER,  1901 


THE  SEX,  NATIVITY,  AND   COLOR  OF  THE 
PEOPLE  OF   THE  UNITED   STATES 


IN   June,    1900,    there  were   in  the 
United  States  proportionally  a  few 
more    females    than    in     1890,    a 
greater  proportion  of  the  population  was 
native  born,  and  there  were  also  propor- 
tionally more  whites  ;   or,    stated  con- 
versely, there  were  proportionally  fewer 
males,  fewer  foreigners,  and  fewer  blacks 
than  ten  years  ago. 

In  other  words,  during  the  past  ten 
years  the  number  of  women  has  been 
growing  slightly  more  rapidly  than  the 
number  of  men  ;  the  native  born  popu- 
lation has  increased  at  nearly  double  the 
rate  of  increase  of  the  foreign  born,  the 
foreign  element  having  increased  at  less 
than  one-third  of  the  rate  of  increase  of 
the  foreign  born  during  the  preceding 
decade,  and  the  number  of  whites  has 
increased  to  quite  an  extent  more  rap- 
idly than  has  the  number  of  blacks. 

These  are  the  main  conclusions  de- 
rived from  a  study  of  the  figures  pre- 
sented in  a  recent  Census  Bulletin.* 

The  total  population  of  the  United 
States  on  June  i,  1900,  was  76,303,387, 
including  persons  enumerated  at  mili- 
tary and  naval  stations  and  naval  ships 
abroad  and  in  Alaska,  Hawaii,  Indian 
Territory,  and  Indian  reservations. 
*  Census  Bulletin  No.  103. 


This  great  total  consisted  of  39,059, 242 
males  and  37,244,145  females— a  ma- 
jority for  the  males  of  1,815,097.  Ex- 
pressed differently,  of  each  10,000  in- 
habitants 5 , 1 1 8  were  boys  and  men 
and  4,882  were  girls  and  women.  Ten 
years  before  there  were  32,315,063  males 
and  30,754,693  females,  or  of  every 
10,000  inhabitants  5, 1 24  were  males  and 
4,876  were  females.  The  females  have 
thus  increased  only  a  very  little  more 
rapidly  than  the  males.  In  1900,  in 
10,000  inhabitants  there  were  236  more 
men  than  women,  whereas  in  1890,  in 
the  same  number  of  inhabitants,  there 
were  248  more  men  than  women.  Ex- 
pressed in  percentages,  there  has  been 
an  increase  in  males  of  20. 9  per  cent  and 
in  females  of  21.1  per  cent. 

Of  native  born  persons  there  were 
65,843,302  and  of  foreign  born  10,460, 
085  in  1900 — that  is,  of  every  1,000  per- 
sons in  1900,  863  were  born  in  the  United 
States  and  only  137  outside  the  borders 
of  the  country.  In  1890,  on  the  other 
hand,  there  were  53,761,665  native  born 
and  9,308,091  foreign  born,  or  of  every 
1,000  persons  852  were  native  and  148 
foreign  born. 

During  the  ten  years  the  native  born 
increased  at  nearly  double  the  rate  of  in- 


382         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


crease  of  the  foreign  born,  the  former 
increasing  22.5  per  cent  and  the  latter 
only  12.4  per  cent.  If  we  exclude 
the  foreign  born  counted  in  Hawaii, 
Alaska,  and  at  military  and  naval  sta- 
tions abroad,  in  the  United  States  itself 
the  foreign  element  increased  by  only 
1,091,729,  or  1 1. 8  per  cent,  whereas 
during  the  preceding  decade  it  increased 
by  2,569,604,  or  38.5  per  cent — that  is, 
during  the  last  ten  years  the  foreign  ele- 
ment increased  at  less  than  one-third  of 
its  rate  of  increase  during  the  preceding 
decade.  In  absolute  numbers  there  was 
an  addition  to  our  native  born  popula- 
tion of  12,081,637,  and  to  our  foreign 
born  of  1,151,994. 

There  are  i  Japanese,  2  Chinese,  3 
Indians,  116  negroes,  and  878  whites  in 
every  i  ,000  of  the  population.  It  should 
be  noted  that  every  person  of  negro  de- 
scent is  included  among  the  negroes. 


The  totals  of  the  different  classes  are 
66,990,802  white  persons,  8,840,789  per- 
sons of  negro  descent,  1 19,050  Chinese, 
85,986  Japanese,  and  266,760  Indians, 
or  a  total  colored  element  of  9,312,585 
persons. 

The  negro  element  thus  constitutes 
1 1. 6  per  cent  of  the  total  population,  a 
slightly  less  percentage  than  in  1890, 
when  it  formed  11.9  per  cent.  It  has 
not,  however,  been  increasing  so  rapidly 
as  the  white  population,  showing  an  in- 
crease of  only  1 8.  i  per  cent  as  against  an 
increase  of  2 1.4  per  cent  for  the  whites. 
The  absolute  increase  of  the  whites  has 
been  11,824,618  during  the  ten  years, 
and  of  the  negroes  1,352,001. 

The  different  elements  of  which  the 
population  is  composed  and  their  re- 
spective rates  of  increase  are  clearly  .sum- 
marized in  the  following  table  taken  from 
the  report: 


POPULATION    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES   BY   SEX,    GENERAL   NATIVITY,    AND 

COLOR  :    1890  AND  1900. 


Sex,  general  nativity,  and  color. 

Aggregates. 

Per   cent  of 
total 
population. 

Increase  from  1890 
to  1900. 

1900. 

1890. 

1900. 

1800. 

Number. 

Per 
cent. 

Total  population  

76,303-387 

63-069,756 

IOO.O 

IOO.O 

13,233,631 

21.0 

Males  

39,059,242 
37,244.145 

65,843,302 
10,460,085 

66,990,802 
9,312,585 

56,740,739 

32,315,063 
30,754,693 

53,761,665 
9,308,091 

55,166,184 
7,903,572 

46,030,  105 

51-2 
48.8 

86.3 

13  7 
87.8 

12.2 

744 

51   2 

48.8 
852 

14.8 

87.5 

12-5 
73-o 

6,744,179 
6,489,452 

12,081,637 
i,i5i,994 

11,824,618 
1,409,013 

10,710,634 

20.9 

21.  I 

22.5 
12.4 

21.4 

17.8 

233 

Females  

Native-born   

Foreign-born  

White  

Colored  

Native  white  

Native  parents  

41,053,417 
15,687,322 

34,514,450 
n-5i5,655 

538 

20.6 

54-7 
18.3 

6,538,967 
4,171,667 

18.9 
36.2 

Foreign  parents  

Foreign  white  

10,250,063 

8,840,789 
119,050 
85,986 
266,760 

9,136,079 

7,488,788 
126,778 

14,399 
273,607 

13-4 

n.6 

0.2 
O.I 
0-3 

14-5 
11.9 

0.2 

(t) 

0.4 

1,113,984 

1,352,001 
*7,728 
71,587 
*6,847 

12.2 

18.1 
*6.i 

497.2 

*2-5 

Negro  

Chinese  

Japanese  

Indian  

*  Decrease. 


t  Less  than  one-tenth  of  i  per  cent. 


THE    PEOPLE   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES 


383 


THE  FOREIGN  ELEMENT 

In  the  preceding  paragraphs  the  in- 
crease in  the  foreign  born  in  the  United 
States  as  a  whole  has  been  discussed, 
but  it  is  interesting  to  inquire  further 
into  the  nature  of  the  increase.  In 
what  sections  and  states  is  the  increase 
concentrated,  how  does  the  nationality 
of  the  immigrants  of  the  past  decade 
compare  with  the  nationality  of  the  im- 
migrants of  the  preceding  decade,  and 
what  is  the  present  distribution  through- 
out the  country  of  our  foreign  born  in- 
habitants ? 

Four-fifths  of  the  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  foreigners  in  the  United  States 
during  the  past  decade  are  found  in  the 
states  constituting  the  North  Atlantic 
division.  Of  the  total  increase  of  i  ,09 1 , 
729,  as  large  a  proportion  as  874, 619  oc- 
cur in  this  section,  while  the  increase 
in  the  South  Atlantic  division  is  only 
7,505;  in  the  North  Central  division, 
98,360;  in  the  South  Central  division, 
35,834,  and  in  the  Western  division, 

75-4II- 

Thus  of  every  thousand  increase  of 

foreign  born  801  are  concentrated  in  the 
six  New  England  States  and  in  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania. 
During  the  preceding  decade,  however, 
the  largest  share  in  the  increase  of  our 
foreign  born  was  found  in  the  states 
constituting  the  North  Central  divis- 
ion— Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan, 
Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Iowa,  Missouri, 
the  Dakotas,  Nebraska,  and  Kansas. 
These  states  then  showed  44.5  per  cent 
and  the  North  Atlantic  states  41.8  per 
cent  of  the  increase  in  foreign  born  dur- 
ing the  ten  years. 

In  every  section  of  the  country  the 
percentage  of  increase  of  the  foreign 
born  for  the  decade  has  greatly  dimin- 
ished. Even  in  the  North  Atlantic  di- 
vision there  has  been  a  considerable  loss 
in  this  respect,  the  percentage  of  in- 
crease for  the  foreign  born  for  the  ten 
years  being  only  22.5  per  cent  as  against 
38.5  per  cent  for  the  preceding  decade. 


The  decrease  was  especially  noticeable 
in  the  North  Central  and  the  Western 
divisions,  in  which  the  rate  of  increase 
for  the  foreign  born  fell  from  39.2  and 
54.2  per  cent  to  2.4  and  9.8  per  cent  re- 
spectively. 

In  each  section  also,  excepting  in  the 
North  Atlantic  division,  the  rate  of  in- 
crease of  the  foreign  born  was  less  than 
the  rate  of  increase  of  the  native  born. 
In  the  New  England  States  and  in  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania, 
however,  the  foreign  born  have  increased 
a  little  faster  than  the  native  born — 22.5 
per  cent  as  against  20.5  per  cent. 

THE  CHANGING  CHARACTER  OF  OUR 
IMMIGRATION 

The  remarkable  change  that  has  taken 
place  in  the  character  of  the  immigration 
of  late  years  largely  accounts  for  the  re- 
cent concentration  in  the  North  Atlantic 
division.  During  1891-1900,  3,687,564 
immigrants  entered  the  United  States, 
one  and  one-half  million  less  than  in  the 
ten  years  preceding.  Of  German  im- 
migrants during  the  past  decade  there 
were  505,152,  whereas  during  the  pre- 
ceding ten  years  there  were  as  many  as 
i  ,452,970.  Norway  and  Sweden's  con- 
tribution during  1891-1900  was  32 1,281 
as  against  568,362  during  1881-1890. 
The  figures  for  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land show  a  similar  decrease.  On  the 
other  hand,  Austria-Hungary,  Italy, 
and  Russia  and  Poland  during  the  past 
decade  sent  over  1,846,616  immigrants, 
about  double  the  number  contributed 
by  them  during  1881-1890. 

Thirty  years  ago  Canada,  Germany, 
Great  Britain,  Ireland,  and  Norway 
and  Sweden  sent  90.4  per  cent  of  all  the 
immigrants  entering  the  United  States, 
and  Austria-Hungary,  Italy,  and  Russia 
and  Poland  a  scanty  i .  i  per  cent.  In 
1880  the  first  group  were  contributing 
81.7  per  cent  and  the  second  group  6.4 
per  cent  ;  in  1890,  the  first,  73.9  per 
cent,  while  the  second  had  grown  to 


North  Dakota  
Rhode  Island  

Massachusetts  

3 

1 

Montana  

^m        i        !        i               !       !       1 

Connecticut  

New  York  

Wisconsin  

California.  

Nevada  

^^ 

Michigan  

South  Dakota  

Washington  

New  Hampshire  
Illinois  

Arizona  

Utah  

i          i 

Wyoming  

1     i 

Colorado  

Nebraska  

Oregon  

Pennsylvania.  
Idaho  

^^_    ! 

Iowa  

Maine  

Vermont  

i 

Ohio  

j     • 

Knii-.i-  ..     

Maryland  

Delaware  

Dist.  of  Columbia... 

i 

^ 

. 

Texas  

Indiana  

™  — 

Florida  

Oklahoma  

™ 

Louisiana.  

™ 

™ 

j 

West  Virginia  
Indian  Territory... 
Arkansas  

^r~~~ 

i^^~ 

Virginia  

Alaska  

Hawaii  

United  States  

Diagram  showing  the  Percentage  of  Native  and  Foreign 

Born  in  all  States  and  Territories  having  at  least 

One  Per  Cent  of  their  Population  Foreign  Born 

The  darkened  portion  represents  the  Foreign  Born 


THE    PEOPLE   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES 


385 


17.6  per  cent.  During  the  decade  just 
ended  the  former  group  supplied  only 
40.4  per  cent,  while  the  latter  furnished 
fully  one-half,  or  50.  i  per  cent.  This 
new  element  of  Poles,  Italians,  and  Hun- 
garians have  settled  in  the  mining  dis- 
tricts of  Pennsylvania  and  in  the  manu- 
facturing towns  of  New  York,  New  Jer- 
sey, and  New  England.  They  now  form 
the  bulk  of  laborers  in  these  states,  hav- 
ing superseded  the  Irish  in  the  heavy 
work  of  digging  trenches  for  railways  or 
sewers  and  in  the  making  and  repairing 
of  roads.  No  better  example  could  be 
cited  than  the  present  work  of  digging 
a  way  for  the  underground  system  of 
New  York  City.  The  majority  of  the 
laborers  are  Italians  and  Poles,  whereas 
fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago  such  work 
would  have  been  mainly  done  by  Irish- 
men. 

The  Census  Bureau  has  not  yet  pub- 
lished the  relative  components  of  our 
foreign  population,  but  it  is  interesting 
to  note  the  nationalities  that  make  up 
our  total  immigration,  amounting  to 
19.115,221  inSoyears.  Germany  has  con- 
tributed over  one-fourth,  5,009,280;  Ire- 
land slightly  more  than  one-fifth,  3,869, 
268  ;  Great  Britain  one-fifth,  3,026,207; 
Norway  and  Sweden  nearly  one-fif- 
teenth, 1,246,312  ;  Canada  and  New- 
foundland, 1,049,939  ;  Italy,  1,040,457; 
Austria-Hungary,  1,027,195,  and  all 
other  countries  about  one-tenth,  1,919, 
661. 

Probably  one-fourth  of  our  immi- 
grants have  during  the  past  ten  years 
returned  to  their  old  homes.  Three 
and  one-half  millions  are  recorded  as 
having  entered  the  country,  but  there  is 
an  increase  in  our  foreign  born  popula- 
tion of  only  about  one  million,  conclu- 
sive proof  that  many  remain  in  America 
for  only  a  short  period. 

THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  FOREIGN 
BORN 

The  diagram  on  page  384  shows  the 
relative  percentage  of  foreign  and  native 


born  in  each  state  of  the  Union.  North 
Dakota  leads,  with  the  largest  percent- 
age of  foreign  born,  Rhode  Island -fol- 
lows next,  Massachusetts  is  third,  and 
Minnesota  fourth.  These  four  states, 
together  with  Montana,  Connecticut, 
and  New  York,  are  the  only  states  that 
have  approximately  one-fourth  or  more 
of  their  population  of  foreign  birth. 
California,  Montana,  and  Nevada  stand 
high  up  in  the  list  because  of  the  nu- 
merous Chinese  and  Japanese,  in  these 
states.  Six  states — North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  and  Tennessee — are  not  in- 
cluded in  the  diagram,  for  each  of  these 
six  states  has  less  than  i  per  cent  of 
its  population  foreign  born. 

The  states  comprising  the  North  At- 
lantic division  have  the  largest  percent- 
age of  foreign  born,  there  being  in  this 
division  226  foreigners  to  774  native- 
born.  As  has  been  previously  noted, 
these  are  also  the  only  states  in  which 
the  foreign  born  have  increased  more 
rapidly  than  the  native  born  during  the 
last  decade. 

A  natural  result  of  the  great  immigra- 
tion period  of  1881-1890,  when  over  half 
a  million  immigrants  entered  the  United 
States  annually,  would  be  a  large  in- 
crease during  the  succeeding  decade  in 
the  number  of  persons  born  in  the  coun- 
try of  foreign  parents.  Such,  in  fact, 
proves  to  be  the  case.  In  the  last  ten 
years  the  native  whites  of  foreign  par- 
ents have  increased  at  the  rate  of  36. 2  per 
cent,  which  is  nearly  double  the  rate  of 
increase  of  native  whites  of  native  par- 
entage, 18.9  per  cent.  For  the  most 
part,  these  sons  and  daughters  born  on 
American  soil  of  foreign  parents  grow 
up  as  thoroughly  American  in  thought 
and  act  as  the  descendants  of  the  earliest 
settlers. 

If  we  include  in  the  foreign  element 
the  children  of  foreign  white  parents,  the 
foreign  element  now  constitutes  about 
one-third  of  the  total  population — 34  per 
cent.  The  native  whites  of  native  par- 


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388         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


entage  constitute  slightly  more  than  one- 
half — 53.8  per  cent. 

THE  NEGRO  ELEMENT 

In  the  United  States  as  a  whole  the 
negro  element  has  increased  since  1890 
18.  i  per  cent,  whereas  the  white  ele- 
ment has  increased  as  much  as  21.4  per 
cent.  The  more  rapid  increase  of  the 
white  is  true  also  of  the  South  Atlantic 
and  South  Central  divisions,  where  nearly 
nine-tenths  of  the  negro  population 
are  concentrated.  The  only  Southern 
states  in  which  the  persons  of  negro  de- 
scent have  increased  more  rapidly  than 
the  whites  are  Florida,  Alabama,  Missis- 
sippi, Arkansas,  West  Virginia,  and 
Oklahoma.  The  negro  element,  how- 
ever, forms  such  a  small  percentage  of 
the  population  of  the  two  latter  states 
(4.5  and  7.7  per  cent  respectively)  that 
they  may  be  practically  disregarded. 

The  more  rapid  increase  of  the  white 
element  is  not  due  to  an  influx  of  whites 
from  other  states,  as  is  shown  by  a 
comparison  of  the  increase  of  the  native 
whites  of  native  parentage  with  the  in- 
crease in  persons  of  negro  descent.  In 
the  South  Atlantic  division  persons  of 
negro  descent  have  increased  14.3  per 
cent  and  native  whites  of  native  parent- 
age 20.5  per  cent.  In  the  South  Cen- 
tral division  the  former  have  increased 
19.9  per  cent  and  the  latter  29.2  per 
cent. 

The  diagrams  on  pages  386  and  387 
show  the  percentage  of  the  negro  element 
in  the  various  southern  states  at  each 
census  period  since  1 790.*  South  Caro- 
lina and  Mississippi  are  the  only  states 
in  which  the  negro  element  is  now  in 
the  majority.  Ten  years  ago  the  whites 
were  in  the  minority  in  Louisiana,  but 
they  have  since  increased  in  this  state 

*  The  diagrams  showing  the  percentage  of 
whites  and  negroes  in  certain  states  at  each 
census  are  based  on  similar  diagrams  in 
Statistical  Atlas  of  the  United  States,  Elev- 
enth Census,  by  Henry  Gannett,  p.  18. 


twice  as  fast  as  the  negroes.     In   Ken- 
tucky they  have  increased  three  times 
as  fast,  and  in  Texas  one  and  one-hs 
times  as  fast  as  the  negroes. 

THK    CHINESE.    JAPANESE.    AND 

INDIANS 

There  has' been  a  considerable  decrease 
in  the  number  of  Chinese  in  the  United 
States  during  the  past  decade.  In  the 
United  States  proper  the  number  fell 
from  107,48810  89,863,  a  loss  of  17,625, 
or  16.4  percent.  The  Chinese  are  now 
more  widely  distributed  throughout  the 
country.  In  all  the  divisions  excepting 
the  Western  division'there  are  more  Chi- 
nese than  there  were  ten  years  ago. 
The  state  of  California  has  lost  over 
26,000,  but  Oregon  and  Washington 
have  gained  a  small  number.  In  Ha- 
waii there  are  25,767  Chinese.  The 
following  table  shows  the  distribution 
of  the  Chinese  in  the  United  States 
proper: 


Geographical  divisions. 

No.  of  Chinese. 

1900. 

1890. 

Total  

89,863 

107,488 

North  Atlantic  division  .... 
South  Atlantic  division  
North  Central  division  
South  Central  division  
Western  division  

14.693 
I.79I 
3,668 
1,982 
67,729 

6,177 

2,351 
1.447 
96,844 

The  number  of  Japanese  in  the  United 
States  proper  has  increased  more  than 
ten  fold  since  1890.  Ten  years  ago 
there  were  .only  2,039  Japanese  in  the 
country,  whereas  at  the  time  of  the  last 
census  they  numbered  24,326.  As 
might  naturally  be  expected,  a  very 
large  proportion,  amounting  to  96.1  per 
cent,  are  concentrated  in  the  Western 
division.  The  Japanese  element  in 
Hawaii  has  increased  five  fold,  and  now 
amounts  to  61,111,  about  one-third  of 
the  total  population  of  the  islands.  The 
distribution  of  the  Japanese  in  theUnited 


THE    PEOPLE   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES          389 


States  proper  is  given  in  the  following 
table  : 


Geographical  divisions. 

No.  of  Japanese. 

1900. 

1890. 

Total  

24,326 

2,039 

North  Atlantic  division  
South  Atlantic  division.  .  .  . 

535 
29 

349 
37 
23.376 

247 

55 
117 
61 
i,559 

North  Central  division  
South  Central  division  
Western  division  

The  Indians  also  have  decreased  dur- 
ing the  decade,  but  not  nearly  as  rapidly 
as  has  been  commonly  supposed.  There 
are  6,847  ^ess  than  in  1890,  a  loss  of  only 
2.5  per  cent.  About  one  half  of  these 
Indians  are  taxed.  The  census  shows 
an  increase  in  the  number  of  Indians  in 
Alaska  of  4,182,  but  probably  the  in- 
creased figures  are  because  of  the  more 
careful  enumeration  that  was  possible. 
The  number  of  Indians  in  the  United 
States,  exclusive  of  Alaska,  is  now 
somewhat  less  than  a  quarter  of  a 
million — 237,196  as  against  248,253  in 
1890.  In  Alaska  itself  there  are  29,536 
Indians. 

DISTRIBUTION     OF     MALES     AND 
FEMALES 

The  number  of  men  and  women 
throughout  the  United  States  was  more 
evenly  balanced  in  1900  than  ten  years 
before.  Each  of  the  states  of  the  West- 
ern division  shows  a  larger  proportion 
of  females  and  a  smaller  proportion  of 
males  than  in  1890.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  the  North  Atlantic  and  South  Atlan- 
tic divisions,  considered  as  a  whole, 
where  ten  years  ago  there  was  a  slightly 
larger  proportion  of  females,  there  was  in 


1 900  an  equal  proportion  of  both  sexes. 
There  are  eleven  states,  including  the 
District  of  Columbia,  in  which  there 
are  more  females  than  males.  Each  of 
these  states  is  situated  on  the  Atlantic 
coast. 

Massachusetts  has  the  largest  majority 
of  females,  having  70,398  more  women 
than  men.  New  York  has  a  female  ma- 
jority of  39,334  ;*  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, 14,710;  North  Carolina,  16,456  ; 
South  Carolina,  10,526,  and  Georgia, 
9,929.  Maine,  Vermont,  and  Connecti- 
cut have  a  majority  of  the  male  sex.  In 
Pennsylvania  there  are  106,967  more 
males,  due  principally  to  the  large  ele- 
ment of  the  foreign-born  working  in  the 
mining  districts.  In  all  the  states  of 
the  North  Central,  South  Central,  and 
Western  divisions  there  is  a  majority  of 
the  males.  The  largest  excess  of  males 
is  in  Montana,  Wyoming,  and  Nevada, 
in  which  states  the  males  constitute 
more  than  60  per  cent  of  the  entire  pop- 
ulation. 

The  negro  element  is  the  only  ele- 
ment of  the  population  in  which  there 
are  more  females  than  males,  there  be- 
ing 54,347  more  females  of  negro  de- 
scent than  males  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  the  native  whites  of  native 
parents  have  the  largest  proportion  of 
males  to  females — 51  per  cent  males  and 
49  per  cent  females.  The  native  whites 
of  foreign  parents  are  very  evenly  bal- 
anced as  to  sex.  Naturally  there  is  a 
large  excess  of  males  in  the  foreign-born 
element,  while  six  sevenths  of  the  Chi- 
nese and  two  thirds  of  the  Japanese  are 
males. 

G.  H.  G. 

*  The  excess  in  this  State  is  confined  to  na- 
tive whites  of  native  and  foreign  parentage, 
the  foreign  whites,  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  In- 
dians showing  an  excess  of  males. 


(U 

^3 

4-> 

eu 


A   REMARKABLE   SALT   DEPOSIT1' 


BY   CHARLES  F.   HOLDER 


THE  deposit  of  salt  at  Salton  is 
one  of  the  sights  of  California. 
It  lies  in  a  depression  almost 
300  feet  below  the  sea-level,  and  was 
at  some  time  in  the  past  the  bed  of 
the  sea  or  extension  of  the  Gulf  of 
California. t  From  the  train,  which 
passes  near  by,  the  tract  looks  like  a 
vast  snow  field,  and  in  the  early  morn- 
ing is  frequently  the  scene  of  beauti- 
ful mirage  effects.  The  salt  deposit, 
which  is  essentially  rock-salt,  covers 
about  1,000  acres,  and  is  at  present  the 
center  of  interest  on  account  of  the  dis- 
pute of  rival  companies  over  the  posses- 
sion of  the  property.  The  company  in 
possession  has  shipped  from  this  place 
annually  about  2,000  tons  of  salt,  valued 
at  from  $6  to  $34  per  ton.  The  outfit 
of  the  salt  mine  consists  mainly  of  a 
crusher,  a  drying  building, and  a  dummy 
line  from  the  salt  beds  to  the  Southern 
Pacific  Railroad,  not  far  distant. 

The  work  is  carried  on  chiefly  by  In- 
dians, who  can  withstand  the  intense 
heat  of  the  desert — 150°  in  June — and 
the  glare  better  than  white  men.  The 
work  is  interesting  and  novel.  The  dry- 
ing house  is  a  building  600  feet  in  length, 
about  which  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
tons  of  salt  are  heaped,  having  all  the 
appearance  of  snow.  Here  the  salt  is 
dried  and  milled. 

The  salt  is  collected  at  first  with  a 
plow — a  singular  machine  with  four 
wheels,  in  the  center  of  which  sits  an 
Indian  guiding  it ;  the  motive  power  is 
a  dummy  engine  some  distance  away, 

t  See  the  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGA- 
ZINE, vol.  xi,  no.  9,  p.  340  et  scq. 


which  hauls  the  plow  along  by  cables. 
As  it  passes,  the  steel  breaker  is  seen  to 
cut  a  broad  but  shallow  furrow,  eight 
feet  wide  and  three  feet  long,  throwing 
up  the  ridges  on  either  side.  Indians 
now  follow  along,  and  with  hoes  pile 
up  the  salt  in  pyramidal  forms,  which 
later  is  transported  to  the  mill.  Each 
plow  harvests  700  tons  of  salt  per  day. 
A  singular  feature  of  this  bed  is  that  the 
salt  is  being  deposited  daily  by  springs 
which  run  into  the  basin,  and  as  the 
water  evaporates  it  leaves  a  crust  of  al- 
most pure  chloride  of  sodium,  which 
ranges  from  10  to  20  inches  in  thickness, 
over  the  lake.  It  will  be  seen  that  there 
is  no  danger  of  exhausting  the  supply, 
which  is  forming  all  the  time  ;  and, 
in  point  of  fact,  the  plows  have  in  the 
past  years  worked  almost  continuously 
over  the  same  area,  only  about  10  acres 
having  been  plowed. 

The  salt,  when  delivered  at  the  plant, 
is  hoisted  to  the  upper  floor  and  placed 
in  a  bulkhead  breaker,  where  it  is  re- 
duced to  particles  of  the  same  size.  It 
then  passes  through  a  burr  mill  and  is 
well  ground  After  this  it  is  sifted  and 
is  finally  passed  through  an  aspirator, 
which  cleanses  it  of  all  foreign  material, 
when  it  is  ready  for  packing  in  bags. 
The  salt  is  used  for  a  variety  of  pur- 
poses, and  is  of  several  different  grades, 
the  lowest  being  unrefined — a  product 
called  hide  salt,  used  in  manufactories. 
Large  quantities  are  sold  for  sea-bathing 
purposes,  a  certain  amount  producing 
a  very  similar  chemical  equivalent  to 
sea  water.  Other  grades  are  prepared 
for  the  table,  dairy,  and  for  the  use  of 
druggists. 


*  From  the  Scientific  American. 


SVEN     HEDIN'S     EXPLORATIONS    IN 
CENTRAL    ASIA* 


IT  will  be  remembered  that  Dr.  Hedin 
traveled  down  the  Yarkand  and 
Tarim  Rivers  to  the  Lob  Nor  re- 
gion (1899-1900),  in  which  he  made 
many  excursions  of  the  greatest  value 
to  geographical  science  ;  but  what  de- 
lighted him  most  was  the  very  important 
discovery  he  made  of  an  ancient  lake 
bed  which  strongly  confirmed  the  theory 
he  advanced  after  his  first  journey  in 
Central  Asia,  that  the  ancient  Lob  Nor 
Lake  was  not  identical  with  the  lake 
which  commonly  bears  that  name  at 
the  present  day.  Writing  from  Tiumen 
(Temirlik),  at  the  end  of  October,  1900, 
Dr.  Hedin  announced  his  intention  of 
making  two  more  journeys  before  he  set 
out  on  the  long  march  home,  one  among 
the  mountains  to  the  west  of  Temirlik, 
the  other  to  the  ancient  lake  bed  he  had 
discovered  and  the  Kara-Koshun  Lake, 
which  he  identified  with  Prjevalsky's 
Lob  Nor.  It  is  with  these  two  expedi- 
tions that  his  latest  letters  deal. 

Starting  on  the  first  journey,  to  the 
great  or  westerly  Kum-Kul,  early  in 
November,  Dr.  Sven  Hedin  crossed  and 
measured  these  mountains  on  three  lines. 
He  passed  through  absolutely  unknown 
country,  but  the  excursion  was  a  com- 
paratively short  one,  lasting  only  a 
month,  and  by  December  12  he  was 
ready  for  the  more  important  march. 
On  this  he  had  with  him  nine  men  and 
eleven  camels  and  ten  horses.  Khan- 
ambal  was  the  first  point  for  which  he 
made,  and  this  he  reached  by  a  rather 
difficult  mountain  road,  lying  to  the 
south  of  Littledale's  road,  which  was 
struck  at  Khan-ambal.  After  making 
a  circular  march  to  Sirting,  round  the- 
magnificent  Anambar-ula  and  back  to 
Khan-ambal,  Dr.  Sven  Hedin  proceeded 
across  the  desert  straight  to  the  north, 


and  passed  through  the  mountainous 
region  which  constitutes  the  western 
continuation  of  the  Kurruk  Tagh.  He 
was  able  to  map  the  whole  of  his  route 
from  Temirlik,  and  found  that  the  exist- 
ing maps  were  quite  incorrect. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  inarch 
the  little  company  of  travelers  had  a 
very  trying  experience.  For  twelve  long 
and  arduous  days,  during  which  they 
pushed  forward  as  rapidly  as  possible 
and  covered,  in  spite  of  the  slow  rate  of 
traveling  necessitated  by  the  careful  ob- 
servations which  Dr.  Sven  Hedin  was 
continually  taking,  about  twenty  miles 
a  day,  not  a  drop  of  water  was  found. 
Fortunately,  on  the  third  day  the  trav- 
elers came  across  some  snow,  and  this 
just  enabled  the  camels  to  last  out  until 
water  was  reached ;  otherwise  they  must 
inevitably  have  succumbed.  After  this 
Dr.  Hedin,  with  the  aid  of  the  map  he 
had  compiled  in  March,  1900,  when  he 
made  his  great  discovery  in  connection 
with  the  Lob  Nor  problem,  was  able  to 
find  Altimishbuluk  quite  easily,  and 
from  there  to  proceed  with  all  his  cara- 
van to  the  ruins  on  the  northern  shore 
of  the  ancient  lake  bed.  The  camels 
were  heavily  laden  with  ice,  and  after 
they  had  been  sent  back  to  the  ' '  bulak, ' ' 
Dr.  Hedin  wras  able  to  stay  among  the 
ruins  for  a  week.  During  this  time  he 
was  busily  engaged  compiling  maps  and 
plans,  taking  photographs,  gathering 
together  collections  of  various  kinds,  and 
making  excavations  among  the  ruins. 
The  discoveries  he  made  were  both  nu- 
merous and  important,  but  he  thinks  that 
perhaps  his  most  curious  "find"  was 
some  twelve  complete  letters  written  on 
paper  in  Chinese.  They  were  in  a  mar- 
velous state  of  preservation,  every  sign 
being  perfectly  distinct  and  legible. 


*  From  The  London  Times. 


394 


NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


Among  other  curiosities  that  Dr.  Sven 
Hedin  will  bring  home  are  thirty  little 
pieces  of  wood,  which,  so  far  as  he  can 
judge  at  present,  must  have  been  used 
as  some  kind  of  ticket.  Each  one  has 
inscribed  on  it  the  name  of  some  em- 
peror, the  year  of  his  reign,  the  month, 
and  even  the  very  day.  A  ' '  siah  ' '  who 
has  read  some  of  them  tells  Dr.  Hedin 
that  the}7  are  800  years  old,  but  the  latter 
feels  that  he  cannot  form  a  definite 
opinion  until  he  has  had  them  trans- 
lated on  his  return. 

Among  the  ruins  Dr.  Hedin  found  a 
beautiful  Buddhist  temple,  in  which  he 
saw  some  most  artistic  wood-carving. 
One  of  the  representations  was  a  large 
fish,  and  in  this  connection  he  mentions 
that  one  house  contained  a  number  of 
fish  bones  which  were  evidently  the  re- 
mains of  fish  exactly  similar  to  those 
found  today  in  the  Kara-Koshun  Lake 
to  the  south.  These  facts  Dr.  Sven 
Hedin  considers  important  as  strength- 
ening his  claim  to  have  found  a  lake 
bed  which  was  actually  filled  not  so 
many  years  ago,  and  which  is  the  true 
site  of  the  Lob  Nor  of  the  ancients.  In 
the  temple  Dr.  Hedin  further  found  a 
Buddha,  carved  in  wrood  ;  and  he  also 
mentions  as  one  of  his  ' '  finds  ' '  a  piece 
of  wood  which  he  describes  as  being 
about  half  the  size  of  the  sheet  of  note- 
paper  he  was  writing  on,  on  which  there 
was  writing  in  Tibetan  characters.  In 
one  of  the  Chinese  letters,  to  which  ref- 
erence has  already  been  made,  the  place 
is  called  Lo-lan,  and  there  is  also  men- 
tion of  the  great  road  which  it  will  be 
remembered  Dr.  Sven  Hedin  found  run- 
ning along  the  northern  shore  of  the 
lake  bed,  which  is  said  to  join  Lo-lan 
to  Sa-dscheo,  Dr.  Hedin  brought  away 
with  him  specimens  of  the  various  kinds 
of  wood-carving,  and  students  in  Europe 
will  eagerly  await  the  sight  of  these  as 
well  as  of  the  photographs  of  the  ruins 
which  Dr.  Hedin  had  developed  just 
before  writing  and  of  which  he  speaks 
in  the  most  enthusiastic  terms. 


Of  the  full  importance  of  his  discov- 
eries among  the  ruins  it  is,  he  says,  im- 
possible to  give  at  present  any  adequate 
idea,  but  he  states  that  he  has  gathered 
together  materials  for  a  bulky  volume 
on  the  Lob  Nor  problem  alone.  He  is 
particularly  pleased  that,  on  leaving  the 
ruins,  he  was  able  to  take  observations 
which  have  enabled  him  to  draw  the 
"leveling"  line  between  the  northern 
shore  of  the  ancient  lake  bed  and  the 
northern  shore  of  Lake  Kara-Koshun, 
or,  in  other  words,  to  ascertain  the  varia- 
tions in  level  between  these  two  points. 
These  observations,  he  is  convinced, 
have  afforded  him  the  best  argument 
he  could  possibly  have  to  show  that  he 
has  found  the  true  solution  of  the  Lob 
Nor  problem.  He  found  that  the  ruins 
on  the  northern  shore  of  the  ancient 
lake  bed  were  situated  at  a  level  2,272 
meters  higher  than  that  of  the  surface  of 
Lake  Kara-Koshun,  but  that  the  lowest 
point  of  the  lake  bed  lay  about  as  much 
below  the  same  surface.  Between  the 
lake  bed  and  the  lake  the  desert  rises  to 
a  point  somewhat  higher  than  the  ruins. 
Dr.  Sven  Hedin  states  that  his  observa- 
tions will  enable  him  to  determine  not 
only  the  surface  dimensions  of  the  old 
lake  bed,  but  also  the  lines  of  depth. 
It  has  just  been  mentioned  that  the 
lower  half  of  the  ancient  lake  bed  is 
lower  than  the  surface  of  the  Kara- 
Koshun  Lake,  and  Dr.  Hedin  reports 
that  the  water  in  the  latter  is  now  find- 
ing a  passage  to  the  old  basin.  When 
Dr.  Hedin  was  making  his  explorations 
in  this  part  the  waters  of  the  present 
lake  were  spreading  north  so  rapidly 
that  it  was  unsafe  for  the  travelers  to 
camp  on  the  shore. 

At  the  date  of  the  letter  in  which  he 
described  these  interesting  researches 
(April  23  of  this  year),  Dr.  Sven  Hedin 
was  at  Chaklik,  which  he  had  reached 
only  a  few  days  earlier.  He  was  greatly 
surprised  to  learn  from  the  letters  he 
found  awaiting  him  about  the  troubles 
in  China  (he  himself  had  been  traveling 


HEDIN'S    EXPLORATIONS    IN    CENTRAL   ASIA      395 


in  a  portion  of  the  Chinese  Empire!), 
and  somewhat  amused  at  the  warnings 
addressed  to  him  by  King  Oscar,  the 
Swedish  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
and  numerous  other  friends,  to  the  effect 
that  he  should  be  careful  not  to  expose 
himself  to  the  cruelty  of  the  Chinese, 
while  he  laughed  at  the  idea  that  he 
might  be  compelled  to  leave  his  work 
unfinished  and  return  to  Europe  at  once. 

In  Chaklik,  he  says,  though  it  is  a 
town  in  the  middle  of  the  Celestial  Em- 
pire, there  are  only  fifteen  Chinese,  and 
these  were  mortally  afraid  of  him  and 
his  Russian  escort  of  four  Cossacks. 
They  did  everything  he  commanded, 
procuring  camels,  horses,  and  provisions 
for  him  without  delay  and  otherwise 
carrying  out  his  behests  with  the  great- 
est promptitude.  Dr.  Sven  Hedin's 
next  line  of  march  will  be  through 
Tibet,  and  there,  of  course,  as  he  re- 
marks, there  are  no  Chinese. 

Looking  back  over  his  work  from 
Chaklik,  Dr.  Sven  Hedin  is  fully  satis- 
fied with  the  results  he  has  obtained. 
He  has  followed  a  different  plan  of  work 
from  that  which  he  pursued  on  his  first 
expedition,  in  1893-' 97.  Then  he  not 
only  took  observations  and  made  notes, 
but  also  worked  at  the  books  he  in- 
tended to  publish  on  his  return.  On 
this  expedition  he  has  done  nothing  of 
the  latter  kind  of  work,  but  has  left  it 
all  to  be  done  when  he  reaches  home. 
He  had  already,  when  writing,  com- 
piled 726  sheets  of  maps,  150  of  them 
large  sheets. 

He  calculates  that  he  has  more  than 
twice  the  cartographical  material  he  ac- 
cumulated on  his  last  expedition,  and 
hopes  to  be  able  to  publish  it  in  a  large 
atlas  of  some  60  or  70  maps  on  a  scale 
which  will  permit  of  the  details  being 


shown.  The  scientific  results  of  all  his 
geographical,  geological,  and  hydro- 
graphical  studies  he  proposes  to  publish 
in  two  large  volumes  of  500  pages  each, 
which  will  form  a  text  to  the  atlas.  Dr. 
Hedin  has  such  a  wealth  of  material  to 
draw  upon  that  he  will  find  it  very  dif- 
ficult to  compress  the  popular  narrative 
which  he  hopes  to  publish  into  two  mod- 
erate volumes.  He  hopes,  however,  to 
do  so. 

As  to  his  future  plans,  Dr.  Hedin 
does  not  now  think  that  he  will  reach 
Europe  this  year.  When  writing  last 
he  proposed  to  spend  some  eight  or  ten 
days  at  Chaklik,  and  then,  having  pre- 
pared his  caravan  very  caref ully  for  the 
last  stage  of  his  great  journey,  to  cross 
Tibet  diagonally  from  Temirlik  to  the 
sources  of  the  Indus,  passing,  if  possi- 
ble, a  little  to  the  north  of  Lake  Mana- 
sarowar.  As  he  travels  slowly  and 
maps  carefully,  Dr.  Sven  Hedin  expects 
that  this  march  will  occupy  the  rest  of 
this  year.  If  it  can  be  arranged,  he 
would  like  to  visit  Lord  Curzon  in  Cal- 
cutta ;  then,  returning  to  his  caravan, 
proceed  as  quickly  as  possible  to  Kash- 
gar  via  Ladak.  He  intended  to  send 
all  his  collections  and  unnecessary  lug- 
gage—  fifteen  horses'  load  —  direct  to 
Kashgar  from  Chaklik.  From  Kash- 
gar,  Dr.  Hedin  does  not  feel  that  he 
could  return  direct  to  Europe  on  ac- 
count of  his  Cossacks,  who  have  ren- 
dered him  invaluable  services,  and  to 
whom  he  has  become  quite  attached. 
These  he  feels  bound  to  leave  in  none 
but  a  Russian  town.  Altogether,  there- 
fore, it  will  be  about  a  year  from  the 
date  of  his  last  letters  before  European 
geographers  can  receive  Dr.  Sven  Hedin 
with  the  welcome  which  he  has  so  well 
earned. 


RECENT   DISCOVERIES   IN   EGYPT 


RECENT  discoveries  in  Egypt 
have  carried  the  record  of  Egyp- 
tian civilization  back  definitely 
for  1,000  years  and  have  given  light 
to  what  was  happening  during  r.coo 
years  more.  In  other  words,  Egyptian 
history  has  been  brought  to  light  for 
nearly  2,000  years  before  the  building 
of  the  pyramids,  which  happened  about 
4000  B.  C.  As  Prof.  W.  M.  Flinders- 
Petrie,  in  an  article  in  Harper' s  Maga- 
zine for  October,  says, ' '  We  even  know 
what  was  going  on  in  every  generation 
for  some  2,000  years  before  that  time 
[building  of  the  pyramids]  far  more 
than  the  later  Egyptians  themselves 
knew." 

It  is  the  discoveries  of  treasures  of 
gold  and  ivory  and  beautiful  stones  in 
the  royal  tombs  at  Abydos  through  the 
persevering  and  efficient  efforts  of  Prof. 
Flinders-Petrie  and  members  of  his 
party  that  have  brought  to  light  the 
history  of  this  remote  past.  The  old- 
est record  of  human  history  is  the  state- 
ment that  ten  kings  reigned  in  Abydos, 
in  upper  Egypt,  during  the  350  years 
before  Mena  (4777  B.  C.  \  who  founded 
the  united  kingdom  of  the  whole  land 
and  is  counted  as  the  first  king  of  the 
first  dynasty.  Four  of  the  tombs  of 
these  earliest  kings  were  identified  sev- 
eral years  ago,  as  well  as  those  of  Mena 
and  his  successors,  but  their  significance 
was  not  understood  until  this  spring, 
when  a  large  number  of  small  objects 
were  found  in  the  tombs  at  Abydos. 
The  most  surprising  discovery  were  four 
bracelets  belonging  to  the  Queen  of  King 
Zer,  about  4700  B.  C.,  some  2,000  years 
earlier  than  any  other  jewelry  thus  far 
identified.  The  bracelets  were  wrought 
with  the  most  ingenious  and  delicate 
workmanship.  Even  a  magnifier  did 
not  reveal  the  joints,  so  perfect  was  the 
soldering.  The  finest  bracelet  is  formed 
of  alternate  plaques  of  gold  and  tur- 


quois,  each  surmounted  with  the  royal 
hawk  and  paneled  to  imitate  the  front 
of  the  tomb  or  palace. 

It  seems  marvelous  that  the  jewelry 
had  not  been  previously  discovered.  In 
early  times  the  tombs  were  broken  into 
and  ransacked.  Some  plunderer  had 
broken  up  the  queen's  body,  and  being 
disturbed  in  his  plundering  had  broken 
off  an  arm  of  the  mummy  and  thrust  it 
into  a  crevice  in  the  wall.  Centuries 
later,  about  1400  B.  C.,  the  tomb  was 
cleaned  out  and  a  shrine  of  Osiris  built 
in  it,  and  for  a  thousand  years  every 
visitor  passed  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
fragment.  Two  thousand  years  later 
the  Copts  utterly  destroyed  the  shrine 
and  the  other  royal  tombs,  and  yet  the 
arm  lay  untouched.  Three  years  ago  a 
French  explorer  carefully  examined  the 
whole  space,  and  yet  the  arm  remained 
unseen  until  one  of  Dr.  Flinders- Petrie's 
workmen  noticed  it  and  called  his  atten- 
tion to  it.  The  arm  was  opened  care- 
fully and  the  bracelets  revealed. 

Professor  Flinders-Petrie  believes  that 
during  the  57  years  of  King  Zer's  reign 
a  rapid  crystallization  of  art  took  place. 
Before  his  reign  everything  was  archaic 
and  tentative,  but  afterward  vigorous 
and  perfect.  He  believes  ' '  this  sudden 
fixation  of  the  final  forms  is  what  is 
also  seen  in  Greek  art,  where  the  inter- 
val of  40  years  between  the  Persian  war 
and  the  Parthenon  sufficed  for  the  step 
from  archaic  work  to  the  highest  perfec- 
tion, after  which  all  else  was  a  gradual 
decay. ' '  Fragments  were  found  of  hun- 
dreds of  different  forms  of  vases  cut  in 
hard  stones.  In  the  tombs  of  one  of 
the  kings  of  the  second  dynasty,  about 
4373  B.  C.,  were  seven  stone  basins  with 
gold  covers,  a  whole  dinner  service  in 
thin  beaten  copper,  and  over  a  hundred 
models  of  food.  Another  prize  was  a 
royal  scepter  formed  of  cylinders  of  rich 
red  sard  held  together  by  a  copper  rod 


KODIAK    NOT    KADIAK 


397 


in  the  center  and  bound  around  by  seven 
gold  rods.  The  handle  end  was  lost ; 
but  this  is  the  only  ancient  scepter 
known  before  that  of  Tarentum,  4,000 
years  later.  Several  miles  to  the  north 
of  Abydos  were  this  year  discovered  the 
royal  tombs  of  a  king  several  centuries 
later,  with  eighteen  chambers  sixty  feet 
under  ground. 


Thus  the  egyptologist  has  now  iden- 
tified the  names  of  king  after  king  in 
those  ancient  times  which  were  ' '  as  old 
in  the  days  of  Exodus  as  the  Exodus  is 
in  our  time. ' '  As  Professor  Flinders- 
Petrie  says,  the  historian  now  knows 
' '  far  more  about  the  civilization  of  these 
oldest  known  kings  than  we  do  about 
our  own  Sapcon  kings  of  England." 


KODIAK   NOT   KADIAK 


OFF  the  coast  of  Alaska,  near 
Cook  Inlet,  is  a  large  island 
which  has  had  trouble  with  its 
name — trouble  with  its  spelling,  trouble 
with  its  pronunciation. 

The  spelling  now  adopted  by  the  U.S. 
Board  on  Geographic  Names  is  Kodiak 
(pronounced  K6'-di-ak),  this  being  a 
reversal  of  the  decision  Kadiak  made 
by  the  same  Board  about  10  years  ago. 
The  universal  local  usage  as  to  this 
name  is  Kodiak.  Such,  also,  is  the 
general  usage  on  the  Pacific  coast.  It 
is  this  widely  extended  and  firmly  es- 
tablished usage  which  has  led  the  Board 
to  discard  an  alleged  ' '  correct ' '  form 
and  adopt  an  alleged  ' '  corrupt ' '  form 
which  local  usage  has  firmly  established. 

Kodiak  is  a  large  island  about  100 
miles  long  by  50  miles  wide.  Its  prin- 
cipal town  (population  in  1900  341) 
was  called  St.  Paul  by  the  Russians,  and 
is  now  called  both  St.  Paul  and  Kodiak. 
The  post-office  in  this  town,  established 
in  August,  1888,  is  called  Kodiak. 

The  island  was  discovered  by  Stephen 
Glotof,  a  Russian  fur  hunter,  who  an- 
chored in  Alitak  (Kaniat)  Bay,  in  the 
southwestern  part  of  the  island,  on  Sep- 
tember 8,  1763.  He  learned  from  the 
natives  that  the  island  was  by  them 
called  Kikhtak. '  Kikhtiik  is  the  Innuit 
word  for  island.'2  Petrof  says  :" 

' '  Kikhtak  or  Kikhtowik  is  the  Innuit 
word  for  island.  At  the  present  day 


(1886)  the  natives  of  the  peninsula  speak 
of  the  Kadiak  people  simply  as  Kikh- 
tagamutes,  islanders.  The  tribal  name 
appears  to  have  been  Kaniag,  and  the 
Russian  appellation  now  in  use  was 
probably  derived  from  both." 

Martin  Sauer,4  who  wrote  the  account 
of  Billings'  expedition,  1785-1794,  says: 

' '  Shelikof  has  called  this  island  Kich- 
tak  as  the  original  name  of  it,  in  which, 
however,  he  is  mistaken,  for  Kichtak 
or  Kightak  is  merely  an  island  ;  they 
call  the  Trinity  Island  Kightak  Sich- 
tunak,  thus,  Kightak  Kadiak  ;  and  to 
my  astonishment  one  of  them  called 
Alaska  a  Kightak  or  island. ' ' 

Cook,5  in  1778,  got  the  name  Kodiak 
from  the  Russian  Ismailof .  This  spell- 
ing was  followed  by  Meares,  1788,  Van- 
couver, 1794,  and  Langsdorf,6 1804,  who 
has  Kodiak,  Kadjak,  or  Kuktak — ;'.  e. , 
Great  Island.  The  British  Admiralty 
charts,  Nos.  260,  278,  787,  2172,  2460, 
and  2558,  followed  the  spelling  Kodiak. 
Sauer,7  about  1790,  has  Kadialc,  and  so 
also  has  Lutke,"  1836.  Dixon,  1789, 
has  Kodiac  and  Codiac ;  Lisianski,  1804, 
has  Cadiack.  At  the  time  of  the  pur- 
chase of  Alaska  the  form  Kodiak  (pro- 
nounced K6'-dy-ak)  was  in  general  use 
among  Englisn-speaking  people,  and 
the  same  form;  Kodiak  (pronounced 
K£d-y£k),  was  in  general  use  among 
the  Russians.  Ball "  says  : 

' '  The  Russian  O  when  not  accented 


39^         THZ   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


should  be  rendered  in  English  by  A  ; 
from  the  neglect  of  this  (comes)  Kodiak 
instead  of  Kadidk." 

Also,  he  says  : 

"  KadiSk.— The  name  of  the  largest 
island  south  of  Alidska.  It  is  a  deriv- 
ative, according  to  some  authors,  from 
the  Russian  Kddia,  a  large  tub  ;  more 
probably,  however,  it  is  a  corruption  of 
Kanidg,  the  ancient  Innuit  name.  The 
inhabitants,  according  to  Coxe,  called 
themselves  Kanidgist  or  Kanidgmut. 
This  name  is  almost  invariably  mis- 
spelled by  English  authors  as  Kodiak, 
Codiac,  Codiack,  Kadiack,  and  in  other 
similarly  absurd  ways.  The  above  is 
the  only  correct  spelling." 

The  spelling  of  this  name  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  Board  on  Geographic 
Names  in  1890  and  the  form  Kadiak 
adopted.  Local  usage  has,  however, 
remained  Kodiak,  both  in  form  and 
pronunciation,  while  the  pronunciation 
Ka'-dy-ak  is  often  heard  from  the  lips 


of  those  who  have  learned  the  name, 
not  from  hearing  it,  but  from  the  printed 
page.  Moser,  in  Report  of  the  Fish 
Commission  (1899,  p.  19),  says: 

' '  Though  the  present  approved  spell- 
ing of  the  name  of  this  island  is  Kadiak, 
the  company  retains  the  former  spelling 
Kodiak." 

Martinez  and  Lopez  de  Haro,  in  1788, 
named  the  island  Florida  Blanca. 

M.  B. 

•Bancroft  (H.  H.)  Hist,  of  Alaska,  1886, 
pp.  141,  145. 

'Dall  (W.  H  )     Alaska,  1870,  p.  532. 

3  Bancroft's  Hist.,  p.  224. 

4Sauer  (M.)  Account  of  geographical  ex- 
pedition, etc.,  1802,  p.  174. 

5  Cook  (J  )  Voyage  to  Pacific  Ocean,  1785, 
2d.  ed  ,  vol.  2,  p  504. 

6Langsdorf  (G  H.  von).  Voyages  and 
travels,  1814,  vol.  2,  p.  58. 

7  Op.  fit.,  pp.  168-170. 

8Lutke  (F.  P.)  Voyage,  etc.,  Partie  nau- 
tique,  1836,  p.  268. 

9  Op.  cit.,  pp.  529  and  532. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAME  "CAPE  NOME" 

DURING  the  last  four  years  I  have 
had  numerous  inquiries  concern- 
ing the  origin  of  the  name  Cape  Nome, 
on  the  northwest  coast  of  Norton  Sound, 
Alaska.  I  searched  every  available 
chart  and  narrative  of  that  region  to 
trace  it  home. 

I  traced  it  back  to  Admiralty  Chait 
No.  2172,  of  1853,  as  being  the  earliest 
to  use  the  name.  It  is  not  in  the  Great 
Atlas  of  Tebenkof  of  1848-' 52,  devoted 
to  the  North  Pacific. 

I  looked  up  the  tracks  of  the  Sir  John 
Franklin  rescue  ships,  H.  M.  frigate 
Herald  and  brig  Plover  ( 1 845-'  51),  and 
became  satisfied  the  name  was  given  in 
the  cruises  of  one  or  other  of  those  ves- 
sels. 

A  short  time  since  I  wrote  to  the 
chief  hydrographer  of  the  Admiralty 
and  asked  if  the  name  Nome  appeared 
among  the  lists  of  officers  of  the  Herald 
and  Plover. 


Today  I  have  a  letter  from  the  hy- 
drographer of  the  Admiralty, dated  Lon- 
don, August  9,  which  contains  this 
statement: 

"  When  the  MS.  chart  of  this  region 
was  being  constructed  on  board  H.  M.  S. 
Herald,  attention  was  drawn  to  the  fact 
that  this  point  had  no  name,  and  a  mark 
(?  Name)  was  placed  against  it. 

' '  In  the  hurry  of  dispatching  this 
chart  from  the  ship  this  ?  appears  to 
have  been  inked  in  bjT  a  rough  draughts- 
man and  appeared  as  Cape  Name,  but 
the  stroke  of  the  "  a  "  being  very  indis- 
tinct, it  was  interpreted  by  our  draughts- 
man here  as  C.  Nome,  and  has  appeared 
with  this  name  ever  since. 

' '  This  information  is  from  an  officer 
who  was  on  board  the  Herald  when  the 
chart  was  being  constructed." 

So  the  mystery  of  the  name  has  been 
satisfactorily  solved. 

GEORGE  DAVIDSON, 

Department  of  Geography, 

University  of  California. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


EXPLORATIONS  IN  ALASKA 

THE  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  had 
four  important  parties  at  work  in 
Alaska  during  the  past  season.  As  a 
result,  large  sections  of  territory  pre- 
viously unmapped  and  but  little  known 
have  been  well  explored  geologically 
and  topographically. 

The  first  party,  under  command  of 
Mr.  W.  J.  Peters,  assisted  by  Mr.  F.  C. 
Schrader,  left  Seattle  early  in  February. 
They  went  by  trail  from  Skagway  to 
White  Horse,  and  then  pushed  on  with 
dog  teams  1,200  miles  to  Bergman,  a 
trading  post  on  the  Koyukuk  River. 
The  year  previous  a  cache  of  canoes  and 
provisions  had  been  made  at  this  point 
in  anticipation  of  the  trips  which  the 
party  under  Mr.  Peters  and  another 
under  Mr.  Mendenhall  were  to  make. 
The  party  then  advanced  about  100 
miles,  to  the  summit  of  the  divide  be- 
tween the  Yukon  and  the  Arctic  Ocean, 
to  select  the  best  route  to  the  ocean. 
Here  they  made  a  portage  of  several  miles 
across  to  the  waters  of  Colville  River, 
which  they  followed  to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 
After  leaving  Bergman  they  were  in  ter- 
ritory that  had  previously  not  been  pene- 
trated and  was  entirely  unknown.  Mr. 
Peters  reports  that  rollingtundra  extends 
from  the  mountains  to  the  ocean.  The 
original  plan  for  the  party  was  on  reach- 
ing the  Arctic  Ocean  to  turn  east,  and 
then  return  to  Bergman  over  land,  but 
the  season  was  so  late  that  Mr.  Peters 
decided  to  proceed  westward.  The  party 
obtained  some  small  canoes  from  the 
natives  and  pushed  along  the  shore  to 
Point  Barrow.  Here  they  obtained  a 
whaling  boat,  which  they  hoped  would 
enable  them  to  reach  Cape  Nome.  When 
350  miles  down  the  coast  they  fortunately 
fell  in  with  a  collier,  which  shortened 


the  remainder  of  the  journey  to  Cape 
Nome. 

The  second  party,  under  Mr.  T.  G. 
Gerdine,  assisted  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Collier, 
sailed  from  Seattle  June  i  with  twelve 
pack  animals  and  reached  Nome  in  the 
middle  of  June.  They  found  the  season 
there  very  backward,  so  that  it  was  sev- 
eral days  before  they  were  able  to  begin 
active  work.  The  last  week  in  June 
they  proceeded  in  small  boats  to  Teller, 
about  one  hundred  miles  to  the  north- 
west, the  pack  train  following  them 
along  the  beach.  The  mapping  of  Sew- 
ard  Peninsula,  including  the  whole  of 
the  Nome  mining  district,  begun  last 
year,  was  brought  to  a  successful  termi- 
nation. 

The  third  party,  under  Mr.  W.  C. 
Mendenhall,  assisted  by  Mr.  D.  L,.  Rea- 
burn,  starting  from  Fort  Yukon,  made  a 
survey  of  the  Yukon  River  as  far  as  the 
Ball  River  and  up  the  Dall  River  to  the 
portage  across  to  Old  Man  River,  and 
down  this  river  to  Bergman.  Here  they 
also  made  use  of  the  cache  placed  there 
the  year  before.  From  here  they  pro- 
ceeded up  the  Allashook  River,  and  then 
down  the  Kowak  to  Kotzebue  Sound. 
The  territory  that  they  passed  through 
after  leaving  Bergman  was  unknown. 
The  party  has  not  yet  returned  to  Wash- 
ington, so  that  further  information  about 
their  work  cannot  be  had. 

The  fourth  party,  under  Mr.  A.  H. 
Brooks,  worked  in  southeastern  Alaska. 
For  two  months  Mr.  Brooks'  labors  were 
on  Prince  of  Wales  Island  and  the  main- 
land to  the  northeast,  investigating  the 
mineral  resources  of  the  country.  He  re- 
ports much  development  of  the  country 
in  progress.  Another  month  was  passed 
in  making  a  reconnaissance  of  the  region 
to  the  north  extending  from  Juneau  to 
Skagway. 


400        THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


CERTAIN  PERSISTENT  ERRORS  IN 
GEOGRAPHY 

IT  is  strange  that  many  legends  which 
a  generation  ago  were  accepted  as 
true,  but  which  have  long  since  been 
disproved  by  geographers,  should  still 
be  accepted  by  the  general  public,  and 
even  included  in  many  geographic  text- 
books. Mr.  Henry  Gannett,  in  a  recent 
article  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  American 
Geographical  Society,  enumerates  a 
numbei  of  these  errors  and  shows 
wherein  they  are  at  fault. 

It  is  a  persistent  idea  that  the  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  forests  has  an  influ- 
ence upon  the  amount  of  rainfall.  The 
arid  and  desert  regions  of  the  world, 
more  particularly  the  shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea,  have  been  cited  as  the 
result  of  man's  wanton  destruction  of 
forests.  In  this  case,  however,  the  ab- 
sence of  forests  is  not  the  cause  but  the 
result  of  the  desert.  The  geographic 
nature  of  the  Mediterranean  region,  the 
configuration  of  the  land  and  water,  and 
the  prevailing  winds  are  of  such  nature 
as  to  permit  only  of  a  light  rainfall. 
These  conditions  have  existed  for  many 
thousands  and  perhaps  for  millions  of 
years,  and  from  the  nature  of  the  moun- 
tains, cliffs,  and  canons  of  the  region  it 
is  apparent  that  they  have  been  evolved 
in  a  dry  rather  than  in  a  moist  climate. 

A  second  widespread  error  is  that  the 
floods  of  our  rivers  have  recently  been 
much  greater  and  more  frequent  than 
in  former  years,  also  due  to  destruc- 
tion of  the  forests.  The  cutting  away 
of  forests  is  usually,  however,  followed 
by  a  thick  growth  of  bushes  and  under- 
brush, which  holds  the  water  as  effect- 
ively. Mr.  Gannett  cites  the  case  of 
the  Ohio  River  as  a  proof  that  the  floods 
are  not  more  frequent  in  recent  years. 
This  river  has  been  gauged  continu- 
ously, and  the  gaugings  show  very 
little  change.  Whatever  change  has 
taken  place  in  the  forest  areas  of  its 
basin. 


Another  error  is  the  citing  the  exist- 
ence of  fiords  as  a  proof  that  the  coast 
has  been  sinking.  These  gorges  are 
partially  filled  by  the  sea,  and  it  has 
been  argued  that  they  must  necessarily 
have  been  cut  when  they  were  above  the 
sea-level.  On  the  coast  of  Alaska  we 
now  have  similar  fiords  in  the  process  of 
formation  by  glaciers  which  at  their 
lower  ends  are  often  hundreds  of  feet 
beneath  the  surface  of  the  water.  Un- 
doubtedly the  Norwegian  fiords  were 
likewise  cut  by  glaciers  extending  below 
the  surface  of  the  water.  The  coast  of 
Norway  may  be  sinking,  but  the  fiords 
are  not  evidence  of  it. 

Mr.  Gannett  believes  that  perhaps  the 
most  prevalent  error  concerns  climate. 
It  is  generally  believed  that  the  mild 
climate  of  Western  Europe  is  produced 
by  the  Gulf  Stream,  which  washes  its 
shores  ;  that  the  severity  of  climate  in 
the  northeastern  part  of  the  United 
States  is  a  result  of  a  current  from  the 
Arctic  flowing  along  the  coast,  and  that 
the  mild  climate  of  Northwestern  Amer- 
ica is  induced  by  the  Japan  Current,  also- 
sweeping  down  the  coast.  Each  of  these 
beliefs  is  based  upon  the  supposition  of 
a  great  body  of  water  moving  thousands 
of  miles  in  one  steady  stream.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  both  the  Gulf  Stream 
and  the  Japan  Current  lose  their  velocity 
long  before  they  reach  their  supposed 
destination,  and  the  Arctic  current  is 
proved  not  to  exist.  Mr.  Gannett  then 
proceeds  to  explain  the  conditions  of  the 
climate  of  these  representative  portions 
of  the  earth  as  follows:  The  land  ab- 
sorbs heat  rapidly  and  as  rapidly  gives 
it  off,  while  the  water  absorbs  heat  slowly 
and  holds  its  heat  longer.  The  sea  has 
a  much  more  uniform  temperature  be- 
cause of  its  constant  motion.  The  prev- 
alent winds  of  the  northwestern  coast  of 
Europe  blow  from  the  sea,  which  is 
warmer  than  the  land  in  winter  and 
cooler  than  the  land  in  summer;  hence 
the  mildness  of  England's  climate  in 
summer  and  winter.  The  prevalent 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


401 


winds  in  the  eastern  part  of  North  Amer- 
ica are  from  the  west — from  the  land; 
hence  the  severity  of  climate  of  the  east- 
ern part  of  the  United  States  and  Can- 
ada— great  cold  in  winter  and  great  heat 
in  summer.  The  prevalent  winds  in  the 
western  part  of  the  United  States  are 
from  the  ocean,  and  hence,  as  in  the 
case  of  England,  its  climate  is  mild. 

Another  persistent  error  is  found  on 
many  maps,  which  represent  the  main 
system  of  the  Cordillera  as  running  in 
a  direct  line  to  the  Arctic  Ocean  just 
west  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie, 
whereas  it  has  been  shown  that  the 
mountain  system  follows  the  coast  of 
Alaska,  forming  the  ' '  Backbone  of  the 
Alaskan  Peninsula, ' '  including  the  great 
mountains  of  St.  Elias  and  McKinley. 

THE  DEATH  RATE  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES  IN  1900 

THE  records  of  death  in  1 900  were 
registered  by  census  enumerators 
in  an  area  including  somewhat  more 
than  one-third  of  the  population  of  the 
United  States.  These  returns  show 
that  the  death  rate  in  this  registered 
area  was  17.8  per  1,000  of  population. 
The  area  for  which  records  were  ob- 
tained included  Connecticut,  District  of 
Columbia,  Massachusetts,  New  Hamp- 
shire, New  Jersey,  New  York,  Rhode 
Island,  Vermont,  Maine,  and  Michigan, 
and  53  cities  of  8,000  or  more  popula- 
tion in  other  states.  The  population  in- 
cluded was  28,807,269,  or  about  38  per 
cent  of  the  entire  population  of  the 
United  States. 

The  death  rate  in  1890  for  an  area 
somewhat  less  was  19.6  per  1,000,  so 
that  apparently  the  death  rate  in  the 
United  States  has  decreased  1.8  per 
cent  in  ten  years.  It  must  not,  how- 
ever, be  inferred  that  all  this  decrease  is 
due  to  the  improved  health  and  vitality 
of  the  American  people.  Mortality  sta- 
tistics must  necessarily  be  always  uncer- 
tain. Probably  the  records  of  death  at 


no  census  were  so  efficiently  and  thor- 
oughly registered  and  verified  as  at  the 
census  of  1 900  ;  but  a  difference  in  re- 
sults is  the  necessary  consequence  of  a 
more  perfected  registration — that  is,  the 
difference  of  figures  in  the  percentages 
of  death  rate  in  1890  and  1900  does  not 
necessarily  imply  an  increase  or  decrease 
in  the  death  rate,  but  may  be  the  result 
of  a  more  accurate  registration.  It  is, 
however,  gratifying  that  the  difference 
in  percentages  is  in  the  nature  of  a  con- 
siderable decrease. 

The  Census  Bulletin  (no.  83)  treating 
of  the  mortality  statistics  for  the  year 
1900  contains  a  multitude  of  interesting 
tables,  but  the  figures  must  for  the  most 
part  be  taken  with  due  allowance.  For 
instance,  St.  Joseph,  Mo. ,  is  recorded  as 
having  a  death  rate  of  only  9.  i  per  cent 
per  1,000  in  1900  ;  St.  Paul's  death  rate 
was  9.7,  though  ten  years  before  it  was 
half  as  much  again,  14.9 — a  remarkable 
advance  in  the  healthiness  of  the  city  ! 
On  the  other  hand,  Charleston,  S.  C., 
would  appear  quite  unsafe  to  live  in, 
for  its  death  rate,  37.5,  is  four  times 
that  of  St.  Joseph.  Natchez,  with  a 
death  rate  of  39.7,  is  even  more  un- 
healthy than  Charleston. 

CHILE'S  DISPUTES  WITH  PERU  AND 
BOLIVIA 

THE  Pan-American  Congress  has 
aroused  attention  to  the  long- 
standing disputes  between  Peru  and 
Chile  and  Bolivia  and  Chile.  After  the 
overwhelming  defeat  of  Peru  and  Bolivia 
by  Chile  in  1883,  Peru  was  forced  to 
surrender  unconditionally  to  her  con- 
queror the  province  of  Tarapaca,  which 
is  larger  than  the  states  of  Vermont  and 
New  Hampshire  combined.  Peru  was 
also  compelled  to  surrender  the  province 
of  Tacna  and  Arica  for  ten  years,  at  the 
end  of  which  period  the  people  of  the 
province  were  to  decide  by  a  plebiscite 
whether  they  would  continue  allegiance 
to  Chile  or  resume  their  allegiance  to 


402 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


Peru.  In  1894,  when  the  time  for  tak- 
ing the  plebiscite  came,  for  various  rea- 
sons advanced  by  Chile,  the  voting  was 
deferred,  and  it  has  since  been  repeat- 
edly postponed,  notwithstanding  the  pro- 
tests of  Peru. 

The  province  which  is  in  dispute  has 
an  area  of  8,688  square  miles,  about  the 
size  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  population 
of  25,000.  It  has  been  a  source  of  great 
revenue  to  the  Chilean  government  be- 
cause of  its  guano  and  rich  nitrate  de- 
posits. The  occupation  of  Chile  has 
now  lasted  for  seventeen  years,  so  that 
even  if  a  plebiscite  should  be  take'n,  the 
chances  are  that  the  decision  would  be 
in  favor  of  its  retention  by  this  more 
enterprising  government. 

Bolivia,  in  penalty  for  her  defeat,  was 
compelled  to  mortgage  to  Chile  the  Lit- 
toral department,  which  was  her  only 
province  bordering  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
Finally  she  formally  ceded  it  to  Chile  in 
1896,  with  the  condition  that  at  least 
one  port  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  be  granted 
her.  This  concession  Chile  has  steadily 
refused,  but  she  has  offered  $2,500,000 
in  compensation,  an  offer  rejected  by 
the  Bolivians,  who  assert  that  Chile  has 
made  $300,000,000  out  of  the  province. 

The  Littoral  has  an  area  of  29,910 
square  miles.  An  evidence  of  its  com- 
mercial value  to  Chile  is  that  its  popu- 
lation doubled  during  ten  years,  1885- 
1895.  Its  source  of  wealth  consists  in 
its  rich  nitrate  deposits. 


COMMERCE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

FOR  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
the  United  States  the  exports  of 
the  country  for  one  year  have  ex- 
ceeded in  value  one  and  one-half  billion 
dollars.  In  the  twelve  months  ending 
August  31,  1901,  the  value  of  the  ex- 
ports of  the  United  States  reached  the 
tremendous  total  of  $1,500,613,236. 
The  value  of  the  imports  for  this  same 
period  amounted  to  not  much  more  than 


one-half  of  the  value  of  the  exports — 
in  figures,  $843,681,360.  Our  annual 
exports  now  exceed  the  annual  exports 
of  Great  Britain. 

The  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  Treas- 
ury Department  in  a  recent  report  gives 
the  following  interesting  table,  which 
shows  the  imports  and  exports  from  the 
United  States  during  the  twelve  month* 
ending  August  31  of  the  last  six  years  : 


Exports. 

1906,403,525 
1,066,603,779 
1,236,643,922 
1,269,504,882 
i,399,ooo,520- 
1,500,613,236 


1896 $737,163,827 

1897 756,673,034 

1898 623,192,020 

i«99 723.232,313 

1900 848,675,810 

1901 843,681,360 


Thus  the  exports  have  during  the 
five  years  increased  more  than  50  per 
cent,  while  the  imports  have  increased 
less  than  15  per  cent. 

The  growth  in  exports  during  these 
years  has,  as  is  well  known,  included 
all  great  classes  of  products  and  manu- 
factures. During  the  last  year,  how- 
ever, the  exports  of  manufactures  have 
not  kept  pace  with  those  of  other  in- 
dustries. In  the  eight  months  ending 
with  July,  1901,  the  latest  month  in 
which  the  details  are  accessible,  exports 
of  manufactures  fell  $32,000,000  below 
those  of  the  corresponding  months  of 
last  year,  while  exports  of  agricultural 
products  were  $57,000,000  greater  than 
those  of  the  corresponding  months  of 
last  year.  This  reduction  in  exports  of 
manufactures  is  about  equally  divided 
between  copper  and  iron  and  steel,  the 
reduction  in  copper  exports  being  about 
$16,000,000,  and  in  iron  and  steel  about 
$16,000,000.  The  reduction  in  copper 
exports,  according  to  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics,  is  chiefly  due  to  the  decreased 
demand  for  copper  in  other  parts  of  the 
world.  In  exports  of  iron  and  steel  the 
reduction  is  apparently  explained  by 
the  partial  suspension  of  manufacturing 
activities  in  certain  lines  in  July  and 
August,  by  the  reduced  demand  abroad, 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


403 


by  the  reduction  in  prices  of  the  articles 
exported,  and  in  large  part  by  the  fact 
that  the  exports  to  Hawaii  and  Porto 
Rico,  which  were  included  in  last  year's 
statistics,  are  not  included  in  the  figures 
for  the  present  year,  the  total  exports 
of  iron  and  steel  to  these  islands  in  the 
fiscal  year  1900  having  been  about 
$7,000,000. 


IMMIGRATION  DURING  1901 

NEARLY  half  a  million  immigrants 
entered  the  United  States  during 
the  fiscal  year  ending  July  i,  1901. 
This  number  was  some  40,000  more 
than  that  of  the  previous  year  and  more 
than  double  that  of  1898,  the  year  of 
smallest  immigration  for  22  years.  A 
comparison  of  the  arrivals  during  1901 
with  those  of  1882  shows  in  marked  de- 
gree that  the  character  of  the  immigra- 
tion has  very  radically  changed,  a  fact 
also  discussed  on  page  385  of  this  num- 
ber. In  1882,  when  788,992  immigrants 
entered  the  country,  the  largest  inflow 
in  the  history  of  the  United  States,  the 
northwestern  countries  of  Europe,  Ger- 
many, Norway  and  Sweden,  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  Ireland,  furnished  the  bulk 
of  the  new  Americans.  During  1901, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  arrivals  from 
these  countries  formed  but  a  very  small 
share  of  the  inflow.  Their  place  was 
taken  by  Austria-Hungary,  Italy,  and 
Russia. 

For  instance,  in  1882,  250,630  Ger- 
mans entered  the  United  States,  but  in 
the  fiscal  year  just  ended  their  number 
fell  to  21,651,  the  number  of  Swedes 
from  64,607  to  23,331 ,  and  of  theEnglish 
from  82, 394  to  12,214.  Meanwhile  the 
number  of  Italians  has  increased  from 
32,159  in  1882  to  135,996  in  1901,  and 
of  Russians  from  21,590  to  85,257. 

The  following  table  shows  the  num- 
ber of  immigrants  from  the  principal  Eu- 
ropean countries  during  the  two  years 
compared  and  the  per  cent  of  the  total 


immigration  contributed  by  each  coun- 
try. 


Immigrants 
from  — 

Per  cent 
of  total. 

1882. 

1901. 

1882. 

1901. 

All  countries  
Austria-Hungary 
Germany  

788,992 

29,  150 
250,630 
11,618 
6,004 
32,159 
9,517 
29,101 

21,590 
64,607 
10,844 
82,394 
76,432 
i8,937 

487,918 

113,390 
21,651 

3,655 
3,150 
135,996 

2,349 
12,248 

85,257 
23,33i 
2,201 
12,214 
30561 
2,070 

3-7 
3i-7 
1.4 
0.7 
4.0 

1.2 

3-7 
27 

8.2 

i-3 
10.4 

9-7 
2.4 

23.2 

4-4 
0.7 
0.6 
27.9 
0.5 
2-5 
17.4 

4-7 
0.4 
1    2.5 

6.2 

0.4 

Denmark  

France  

Italy  

Netherlands  
Norway  

Russia  

Sweden  

Switzerland  
England  

Ireland  

Scotland  

EXPLORING  TIBET. 

THE  Japanese  Buddhist  Priest,  Mr. 
Nokai,  who  went  to  China  in  No- 
vember, 1898,  to  visit  L,assa,  Tibet,  to 
study  the  L,ama  philosophy,  is  now  mak- 
ing his  third  attempt  to  reach  that  for- 
bidden land,  his  two  previous  attempts 
having  ended  in  failure.  The  first  at- 
tempt was  made  by  way  of  Szechuen 
and  the  second  by  that  of  Kansu,  and  now 
he  is  trying  the  Yunnan  route.  Miss  E. 
R.  Scidmore,  Foreign  Secretary  of  the 
National  Geographic  Society,  is  confident 
that  he  will  reach  Lassa  this  time.  The 
explorer  left  the  provincial  capital  of 
Szechuen  on  February  21  and  reached 
the  capital  of  Kuichau  on  March  9. 
Writing  his  impressions  of  Kuichau, 
he  says  that  Roman  Catholic  churches 
are  found  at  all  the  important  places  in 
the  province,  showing  the  untiring  zeal 
with  which  the  French  missionaries  have 
been  conducting  their  work.  The  num- 
ber of  the  Miaotsz  aborigines  in  Kuichau 
and  Kwangsi  is  believed  to  reach  ten 
million.  The  French  missionaries  that 
had  withdrawn  from  Yunnan  on  the  oc- 


404        THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


casion  of  the  Boxer  disturbance  last  year 
have  already  come  back  to  their  field  of 
operatioif,  and  Mr.  Nokai  saw  them  re- 
pairing or  rebuilding  the  churches  dam- 
aged or  destroyed  on  that  occasion. 

Tali-fu,  he  writes,  is  rich  in  natural 
scenery,  with  the  rivers  clear  and  the 
mountains  well  covered  with  woods. 
Marble  is  the  chief  product  of  this  dis- 
trict, and  there  are  over  100  marble 
works  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city,  which, 
however,  is  a  comparatively  lonely 
town,  containing  at  best  4,000  houses, 
though  it  boasts  of  the  presence  of  sev- 
eral government  offices,  including  those 
of  the  local  military  commander  and  the 
taotai.  The  Santa  temple  in  Tali,  built 
over  a  thousand  years  ago,  is  a  religious 
edifice  widely  known  throughout  China. 
Every  year  for  five  days,  ending  with 
the  twenty-second  of  March  (old  calen- 
dar), a  great  festival  is  conducted  in 
the  precincts  of  the  temple,  to  which 
throng  hundreds  of  thousands  of  vis- 
itors and  merchants  from  the  Kwang 
provinces — Hunnan,  Kiangsi,  Yunnan, 
and  Szechuen.  Three  pagodas  stand 
in  the  temple  ground,  the  largest  be- 
ing fifteen  stories  high.  The  city  pre- 
sents a  queer  appearance,  owing  to  the 
mingled  residences  of  several  different 
races — swarthy  Hindus,  copper-colored 
Tibetans,  and  Chinese  The  place  seems 
to  mark  a  boundary  between  civilized 
and  barbarous  regions. 

The  Russian  Expedition  to  Spitzbergfen 
to  measure  an  arc  of  the  meridian  has 
returned  to  St.  Petersburg  after  having 
successfully  completed  the  work.  The 
party  reached  Spitzbergen  the  latter 
part  of  June,  and  during  the  summer 
have  been  working  in  harmony  With  a 
similar  Swedish  expedition.  The  Rus- 
sian and  Swedish  governments  have  for 
several  years  been  actively  promoting 
the  measurement  of  the  arc. 

The  Twenty-second  Congress  of  the 
geographical  societies  of  France  met  at 


Nancy  in  August,  1901.  Twenty  so- 
cieties were  represented.  The  principal 
resolutions  adopted  advocated  the  es- 
tablishing of  colonial  bureaus  in  the 
principal  towns  of  France  and  her  col- 
onies in  order  to  educate  young  men 
and  women  for  work  in  the  colonies  ; 
the  early  construction  of  a  complete 
canal  system  in  France,  and  the  passing 
by  the  National  Assembly  of  regulations 
to  promote  the  national  birth  rate. 

The  Testing  of  Arctic  Currents  by  set- 
ting casks  adrift  upon  the  ice,  originally 
proposed  by  Rear  Admiral  Melville,  has 
been  continued  the  past  summer.  In 
August  the  revenue  cutter  Bear  depos- 
ited fifteen  specially  constructed  casks  at 
different  points  on  the  ice  in  about  72° 
20'  north  latitude, between  Point  Barrow 
and  Wrangel  Island.  The  spot  where 
each  was  set  adrift  was  carefully  noted 
and  recorded.  Each  cask  contains  in- 
structions to  the  finder  to  inform  the 
U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office  where  and 
when  the  cask  was  picked  up. 

The  Academy  of  Sciences  at  St.  Peters- 
burg has  received  from  Baron  Toll  a  tele- 
gram announcing  that  he  has  reached 
the  Gulf  of  Taimur.  One  member  of  his 
party  succeeded  in  reaching  the  Nor- 
denskjold  Islands,  and  Baron  Toll  him- 
self was  about  to  explore  Chelyuskin. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Baron  Toll's 
party  left  St.  Petersburg  on  May  8, 
1900,  with  the  intention  of  forcing  a 
way  along  the  northern  coast  of  Asia 
to  the  Bering  Sea,  all  the  while  making 
careful  scientific  observations  and  en- 
deavoring to  connect  the  voyages  of  the 
Fram  and  Jeannette. 

The  U.  S.  Commission  on  Fish  and  Fish- 
eries has  appointed  Dr.  C.  H.  Gilbert, 
of  Leland  Stanford  University,  to  take 
charge  of  the  deep-sea  investigations  by 
the  commission  about  the  Hawaiian 
Islands.  Dr.  Gilbert  will  sail  on  the 
Albatross  from  San  Francisco  about  De- 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


405 


•cember  i.  The  dredging  and  other 
work  will  be  made  from  this  vessel. 
For  the  past  ten  years  Dr.  Gilbert  has 
been  professor  of  zoology  in  the  Leland 
Stanford,  Jr.,  University,  and  is  the 
joint  author  with  President  David  Starr 
Jordan  of  ' '  Synopsis  of  the  Fishes  of 
North  America."  For  a  number  of 
years  he  has  also  had  official  connection 
with  the  Fish  Commission. 

American  Progress  in  the  Philippines* — 
During  the  three  years  since  the  Amer- 
ican occupation  of  Manila  6,000  miles 
of  telegraph  lines  and  cables  have  been 
laid  in  the  Philippine  Islands  by  the 
U.  S.  Signal  Corps.  It  is  now  possi- 
ble to  telegraph  from  Cape  Bojeador, 
on  the  extreme  north  coast  of  Luzon,  to 
the  capital  of  the  Jolo  Archipelago,  i  ,000 
miles  distant.  Governor  Taft,  at  Ma- 
nila, can  thus  be  informed  at  almost  a 
moment's  notice  of  happenings  in  all  sec- 
tions of  the  archipelago.  Three  years 
ago,  to  send  a  message  from  Jolo  to  Ma- 
nila required  nearly  three  weeks. 

U.  S.  Biological  Survey.— Dr.  C.  Hart 
Merriam,  Chief  of  the  Survey,  during 
the  past  season  has  been  studying  the 
zones  of  distribution  of  the  fauna  of 
southern  California.  He  was  also  a 
month  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  with  John 
Muir  engaged  in  similar  work  there.  Mr. 
Preble,  of  the  Survey,  was  making  col- 
lections in  the  region  of  the  Great  Slave 
Lake.  Specimens  of  the  fauna  of  the 
five  Arctic  regions — Labrador,  Hudson 
Bay,  the  Mackenzie  River  and  the 
Great  Slave  Lake,  the  Yukon  River, 
and  the  Alaskan  coast — are  now  pos- 
sessed by  the  Survey. 

National  Geographic  Society  Lectures. — 
On  another  page  of  this  Magazine  ap- 
pears the  program  of  lectures  presented 
in  Washington  by  the  Society  during 
the  season  of  1901-1902.  The  course 
is  comprehensive,  including  the  main 
problems  of  a  geographic  character, 


that  are  of  interest  and  importance 
to  the  American  public.  Each  sub- 
ject is  to  be  treated  by  an  eminent  au- 
thority who  has  had  exceptional  op- 
portunities for  studying  the  topic  which 
he  will  discuss.  To  select  a  more  inter- 
esting and  valuable  program  would  in 
fact  be  difficult.  The  majority  of  the 
lectures  will  be  published  in  this  Maga- 
zine during  the  coming  months. 

The  Imperial  Geographical  Society  of 

St.  Petersburg  has  received  letters  from 
Lieutenant  Kozloff,  who  was  sent  out 
in  March,  1900,  to  explore  the  sources 
of  the  Yellow  and  Yangtze  rivers. 
During  the  summer  of  1900  the  party 
made  important  surveys  around  the 
headwaters  of  the  Yellow,  and  then,  be- 
cause of  hostile  natives,  turned  south 
toward  the  sources  of  the  Yangtze. 
Later,  in  March,  1901,  they  fell  in  with 
a  caravan  traveling  from  Lassa  to 
Szechuen,  and  gave  them  the  letters 
for  St.  Petersburg.  The  party  was  not 
attacked  in  1900,  but  a  report  is  now 
current  in  St.  Petersburg  that  they  were 
attacked  during  July,  1901 ,  near  Kobdo, 
and  twenty  men  of  the  party  slain. 
Kobdo  is  in  Mongolia,  about  100  miles 
from  the  Siberian  border,  and  was  the 
starting  point  of  the  expedition. 

The  U.  S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey 

has  established  a  magnetic  observatory 
at  Sitka,  Alaska,  and  is  constructing 
another  at  Honolulu,  Hawaii.  At  these 
stations  observations  will  be  made  simul- 
taneously with  those  taken  by  the  Brit- 
ish, Swedish,  and  German  expeditions 
to  south  polar  regions,  beginning  in 
February,  1902. 

The  Survey  will  soon  dispatch  the 
Pathfinder  to  the  Philippine  Islands  to 
assist  in  charting  the  harbors  and  coasts, 
which  will  then  be  actively  begun. 

During  the  past  season  parties  from 
the  Coast  Survey  have  been  charting 
Cross  Sound  and  Icy  Strait,  which  form 
the  northern  approach  to  Juneau  and 


4°6         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


Skagway.  The  many  channels  between 
the  Fox  Islands  of  the  Aleutian  Archi- 
pelago were  another  object  of  work. 

A  Map  of  the  Philippine  Islands  on  the 
scale  of  1 5  miles  to  an  inch  is  in  course 
of  preparation  by  theU.  S.  Signal  Corps, 
and  will  be  ready  for  distribution  about 
January  i,  1902.  During  the  past  year 
much  new  information  has  been  obtained 
by  military  and  civil  expeditions  through- 
out the  islands,  which  will  be  incorpo- 
rated in  the  new  map.  The  map  will 
contain  the  greatest  number  of  names 
yet  published  on  any  map  of  the  archi- 
pelago, the  spelling  in  all  cases  being 
according  to  that  approved  by  the  U.  S. 
Board  on  Geographic  Names  in  its  re- 
cent report.  The  military  telegraph 
lines  and  cables,  commercial  and  mili- 
tary telegraph  stations,  telephone  sta- 
tions, open  ports,  coastwise  ports,  and 
light-houses  will  also  be  indicated,  as 
well  as  the  boundaries  of  the  provinces 
as  established  by  the  Commission. 

The  Antarctic,  carrying  the  Swedish 
south  polar  expedition,  sailed  from 
Gothenburg  October  16.  Prof.  Otto 
Nordenskjold,  the  leader  of  the  party, 
states  that  they  will  proceed  to  Buenos 
Ayres  and  Tierra  del  Fuego,  and  then 
push  as  far  south  as  is  found  possible. 
When  winter  comes  on  a  party  of  six 
under  Nordenskjold  will  land  and  spend 
the  winter  making  scientific  observa- 
tions. The  Antarctic  meanwhile  will  re- 
turn to  Tierra  del  Fuego  in  charge  of 
one  of  the  scientists  of  the  party,  who 
will  conduct  researches  in  that  little  ex- 
plored country.  Thus,  while  the  Ger- 
mans are  exploring  the  regions  south  of 
the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  British  that 
south  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  Dr.  Nor- 
denskjold and  his  party  will  be  at  work 
in  the  regions  south  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  Professor  Ohlin  and  M.  K.  A. 
Anderson  go  as  zoologists,  Dr.  Bodman 
as  hydrographer,  Dr.  Skottoberg  as  bot- 
anist, and  Dr.  Ekolof  as  medical  officer. 


Depth  of  the  Atmosphere  Surrounding 
the  Earth. — The  Belgian  Royal  Meteor- 
ological Observatory  has  published  the 
estimates  made  by  various  mathemati- 
cians and  physicists  regarding  the  depth 
of  the  atmosphere  surrounding  the  earth. 
The  calculations  of  the  various  scien- 
tists upon  this  subject  recently  given 
in  The  Scientific  American  are  widely 
divergent.  Biot  estimated  that  the 
depth  was  only  about  40  miles;  Bra- 
vais,  70  miles;  Mann,  81  miles;  Cal- 
landrau,  100  miles;  Schiaparelli,  125 
miles;  Marie  Davy,  187,  while  Ritter 
stated  that  it  reached  to  a  height  of  2 1 6 
miles.  In  Great  Britain,  during  the 
early  part  of  the  last  century,  the  depth 
of  the  atmosphere  was  generally  ac- 
cepted as  being  47  miles,  but  the  fact 
that  meteors  became  incandescent  at  a 
much  greater  altitude  proved  that  this 
calculation  was  at  fault.  Sir  Robert 
Ball  states  that  meteors  have  been  ob- 
served at  a  celsitude  of  more  than  200 
miles;  and  since  they  only  become  incan- 
descent when  they  come  into  contact 
with  the  air,  the  calculation  of  Ritter 
appears  to  be  the  most  correct. 

In  Bolivia,  in  the  region  that  lies  be- 
tween the  crest  of  the  Andes  and  the 
great  Amazonian  Plain,  an  expedition 
equipped  and  sent  out  by  Sir  Martin 
Conway  is  continuing  his  work.  The 
country  cannot  be  called  wholly  un- 
known, as  large  areas  have  been  visited 
by  native  prospectors,  but  it  has  never 
been  scientifically  explored  and  mapped. 
It  is  from  the  famous  gorges  of  this 
region  that  the  Incas  obtained  much  of 
their  gold,  and  in  the  fertile  valleys 
is  grown  some  of  the  best  coffee  in 
the  world.  The  leader  of  the  expedi- 
tion is  Mr.  Jones  W.  Evans,  a  well- 
known  geologist  and  traveler,  who  has 
made  his  name  known  by  good  work 
done  in  the  western  part  of  Brazil.  With 
him  are  an  assistant  geologist,  a  sur- 
veyor, a  botanist  from  the  United  States, 
and  a  zoologist.  They  hope  to  make 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


407 


extensive  scientific  collections,  which 
will  be  presented  on  their  return  to  the 
museums  of  London  and  New  York. 

The  party  of  French  engineers  sent 
out  at  the  request  of  the  Bohemian 
government  are  also  actively  engaged 
in  making  a  triangulation  that  will  en- 
able a  complete  survey  of  the  country 
to  be  made. 

The  Division  of  Mining  and  Mineral 
Resources  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Sur- 
vey has  published  a  chart  showing  the 
mineral  products  of  the  United  States 
during  the  calendar  years  1891-1900. 
The  chart,  compiled  under  the  super- 
vision of  Dr.  David  T.  Day,  is  published 
in  advance  of  the  annual  'report  of  the 
Survey  for  1900,  which  will  soon  be 
ready  for  distribution.  During  1 900  the 
value  of  the  mineral  products  of  the 
country  for  the  first  time  exceeded  one 
billion  dollars,  reaching  $1,070,108,889. 
More  than  half  of  this  amount,  or 
$552,4 18,627,  consisted  of  metallic  prod- 
ucts, and  $516,690,262  of  non-metallic 
products,  while  about  one  million  dol- 
lars is  unspecified.  Pig-iron  formed 
about  one-quarter  of  the  value  of  the 
mineral  products  of  the  year,  amount- 
ing to  $259,944,000.  Then  followed 
bituminous  coal,  with  a  value  of  $221, 
133,513;  copper,  $98,494,039;  Pennsyl- 
vania anthracite,  $85,757,851.  The 
value  of  the  gold  products  exceeded 
that  of  the  petroleum  by  over  three 
million  dollars — $79,322,281  as  against 
$75,752,69i.  Silver  followed  next,  with 
$77,070,461.  Our  mineral  products 
have  doubled  since  1887  and  trebled 

since  1880. 

» 

Oscar  Neumann,  the  eminent  German 
explorer,  has  reached  Khartum  after  a 
year  and  a  half  journe}*ing  in  Central 
East  Africa,  more  particularly  in  South- 
western Abyssinia.  With  Baron  Erlan- 
ger  and  several  companions,  he  left  Zeila 
in  January,  1900.  The  movements  of 
the  Mad  Mullah  prevented  them  from 


going  far  into  Eastern  Somaliland,  so 
they  turned  westward  and  visited  the 
holy  towns  of  Sheikh  Hussein  and  the 
holy  mountains  of  Abulnass  and  Abul- 
cassim.  Later  they  traveled  to  the  cap- 
ital, Addis  Abefta,  by  a  new  route.  Leav- 
ing this  town  in  November,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  Lake  Stefanie,  carefully  map- 
ping much  new  country.  Their  most 
important  work  was  in  the  southwestern 
provinces  of  Abyssinia  and  in  the  British 
territory  to  the  west  around  Lobat.  The 
hardships  of  travel  had  reduced  them  to 
serious  straits,  when  they  fortunately 
came  upon  a  steamer  carrying  Slatin 
Pasha  and  Bluett  Bey,  who  took  them 
to  Khartum. 

The  publication  of  the  results  of  Herr 
Neumann's  journey  will  be  awaited  with 
much  interest,  as  almost  nothing  is 
known  of  large  sections  of  the  country 
he  traversed.  It  is  reported  by  telegram 
that  he  has  brought  back  the  largest 
zoological  collection  ever  made  in  Cen- 
tral Africa. 

Geological  Explorations  Near  Athens. — 
The  British  Museum  during  the  past 
summer  has  obtained  some  important 
fossils  of  Tertiary  animals  at  Pikermi, 
near  the  Marathon  Road,  about  12  miles 
from  Athens.  The  specimens  were 
found  at  a  considerable  depth  below  the 
bed  of  a  mountain  torrent,  and  were  so 
jammed  together  that  evidently  the  ani- 
mals were  buried  alive,  probably  by 
torrential  action.  About  50  years  ago 
Dr.  Albert  Gaudry,  in  this  locality,  ob- 
tained a  great  number  of  fossils  for  the 
Paris  Museum.  Since  then  the  Vienna 
Academy  has  made  a  smaller  collection ; 
but  until  the  present  year  the  British 
Museum  had  sent  no  expedition  to  this 
field.  Among  the  principal  finds  were 
numerous  bones  of  Hipparion,  the  three- 
toed  predecessor  of  the  horse  ;  Hellado- 
theriuui,  a  short-necked  giraffe  allied  to 
the  Okapi,  the  new  mammal  recently 
discovered  by  Sir  Harry  Johnston  in 
the  forests  of  the  Kongo  State  ;  several 


408 


THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


skulls  of  Mastodon,  and  skulls,  teeth, 
and  bones  of  the  great  saber-toothed 
tiger  Macharodus,  specimens  of  which 
have  also  been  found  in  England.  One 
of  the  prizes  was  the  remains  of  perhaps 
the  largest  tortoise  ever  found  in  Europe. 
Very  few  bones  of  rodents  or  of  birds 
were  found,  but  a  considerable  collec- 
tion of  land  shells  was  obtained.  Dr. 
A.  S.  Woodward,  who  was  in  charge 
of  the  excavations,  has  forwarded  to 
the  British  Museum  47  large  cases  of 
fossils. 

Bathymetrical  Survey  of  the  Fresh- 
water Lakes  of  England  — In  his  presi- 
dential address  to  the  Geographical 
Section  of  the  British  Association,  at 
Glasgow,  Dr.  Hugh  R.  Mill  announced 
that  Sir  John  Murray  and  Mr.  Laurence 
Pullar  had  resolved  to  complete  the 
bathymetrical  survey  of  the  fresh- water 
lakes  of  the  British  Islands.  Mr.  Pullar 
has  conveyed  to  trustees  a  sum  of  money 
sufficient  to  enable  the  investigation  to 
be  commenced  at  once  and  to  be  carried 
through  in  a  thorough  and  comprehen- 
sive manner.  The  work  is  intended  as 
a  memorial  to  Mr.  Pullar' s  son,  Mr. 
Fred  Pullar,  who  had  begun  the  sur- 
vey of  the  lochs  of  Scotland  and  was 
drowned  in  Airthrey  Loch  in  February, 
1901,  while  endeavoring  to  save  others. 
Sir  John  Murray  has  agreed  to  direct  the 
scheme  and  to  be  responsible  for  carry- 
ing it  out.  All  the  lakes  of  the  British 
Islands  will  be  sounded  and  mapped  as 
a  preliminary  to  the  complete  limnolog- 
ical  investigation.  The  nature  of  the 
deposits,  the  composition  of  the  water, 
the  rainfall  of  the  drainage  areas,  the 
fluctuations  in  the  level  of  the  surface 
and  in  temperature,  and  the  plants  and 
animals  in  the  lakes  will  be  carefully 
noted.  Their  geological  history  will 
also  be  an  object  of  study.  Probably 
five  years  will  be  required  to  complete 


the  work.  Memoirs  will  be  published 
as  the  task  progresses,  giving  the  com- 
plete natural  history  of  the  lakes  of  one 
river  basin. 

Damascus  and  Mecca  Railway. — The 
first  section  of  the  railway  that  is  to 
connect  Damascus  and  Mecca  was  opened 
in  September.  Reports  from  Constan- 
tinople give  an  interesting  account  of 
the  opening  ceremonies.  Thousands  of 
spectators  had  gathered  at  Mezireh  in 
the  early  morning.  Sheep  were  sacri- 
ficed and  earnest  prayers  offered  for  the 
prompt  and  successful  completion  of  the 
railway  and  for  the  long  life  of  the  Sul- 
tan. Then  the  governor  general  of 
Syria,  accompanied  by  sheiks,  ulemas, 
and  prominent  men  of  Damascus,  boarded 
the  railway  carriages,  which  were  decked 
writh  Turkish  flags,  and  the  train  moved 
off  amid  the  shouts  of  the  enthusiastic 
Mussulmen.  The  arrival  of  the  train 
at  the  other  end  of  the  section,  Dera, 
was  likewise  greeted  by  an  immense 
crowd.  The  Sultan  in  his  palace  on  the 
Bosphorus,  1,000  miles  away,  mean- 
while was  receiving  bulletins  telling  of 
the  successful  opening  of  the  railroad. 
Much  importance  is  given  by  the 
Turkish  papers  of  the  capital  to  the 
construction  of  this  route.  They  credit 
the  Sultan  with  originating  the  plan, 
and  state  that  as  soon  as  the  connections 
between  Damascus  and  Mecca  and  Me- 
dina are  completed  he  will  push  the 
construction  of  the  road  northward  to 
connect  with  the  Anatolian  railway  to 
Constantinople.  The  political  impor- 
tance of  this  road  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated. It  will  bind  together  the  prov- 
inces from  Constantinople  to  the  Gulf 
of  Aden,  and  enable  the  Sultan  to  con- 
centrate his  troops  at  any  point  between 
the  capital  and  the  gulf,  either  to  quell 
domestic  disorder  or  resist  foreign  en- 
croachment. 


GEOGRAPHIC    LITERATURE 


A  Gazetteer  of  Alaska,  by  Marcus 
Baker,  is  in  the  printer's  hands  and 
will  soon  be  ready  for  distribution  by 
the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey.  Gazet- 
teers of  Cuba  and  Texas  are  being  com- 
piled by  Henry  Gannett,  also  to  be  pub- 
lished by  the  Survey. 

Reports  on  Military  Operations  in 
South  Africa  and  China,  just  published 
by  the  Military  Information  Division 
of  the  War  Department,  forms  a  con- 
cise and  excellent  summary  of  military 
events  in  these  respective  parts  of  the 
world  until  April  i,  1901.  The  volume 
is  accompanied  by  many  maps,  one  of 
South  Africa  being  especially  valuable. 

"  Boundaries  of  the  United  States,  States 
and  Territories,  with  Outline  of  History 
of  Important  Changes,"  by  Henry  Gan- 
nett, is  the  title  of  Bulletin  No.  171,  re- 
cently issued  by  the  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey.  As  the  title  indicates,  the  re- 
port gives  a  sketch  of  the  successive 
boundaries  of  the  United  States,  of  its 
states  and  territories,  as  defined  by 
treaty,  charter,  or  statute.  The  text  is 
well  illustrated  by  maps  and  diagrams. 

Recent  Important  Publications  by  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  Treasury 
Department  are  ' '  National  Debts  of  the 
World,"  "Porto  Rico,  Hawaii,  Philip- 
pine Islands,  Guam,  Samoan  Islands, 
and  Cuba,  their  area,  population,  agri- 
cultural and  mineral  products,  imports 
and  exports  by  countries,  and  the  com- 
merce of  the  United  States  therewith," 
and  ' '  Commerce  of  Mexico,  Central  and 
South  America,  and  the  West  Indies, 
with  share  of  the  United  States  and 
other  leading  nations  therein,  1821- 
1900." 


A  List  of  Maps  of  America  in  the  Li- 
brary of  Congress,  by  P.  Lee  Phillips, 
Chief  of  the  Division  of  Maps  and  Charts, 
has  been  recently  published  by  the  Li- 
brary of  Congress.  This  very  valuable 
volume  is  preceded  by  a  list  of  books  re- 
lating to  cartography.  The  maps  are 
listed  chronologically  and  include  such 
as  were  in  the  Library  at  the  time  of  the 
opening  of  the  new  building,  in  No- 
vember, 1897.  Since  that  date  there 
have  been  many  important  editions, 
which  will  be  included  in  a  supple- 
mentary volume. 

A  bibliography  of  geographic  publica- 
tions of  1900  is  issued  as  the  September 
number  of  A nnales  de  Geog  raphie.  The 
908  entries  are  very  comprehensive,  in- 
cluding memoirs  published  in  govern- 
ment reports  and  in  the  proceedings  of 
societies  and  in  leading  periodicals.  The 
volume  is  edited  by  Louis  Raveneau, 
with  whom  are  associated  some  forty 
eminent  geographers,  Drs.  Wm.  M. 
Davis  and  R.  De  Courtney  Ward,  of 
Harvard  University,  representing  the 
United  States.  Sixty  entries  are  of  sub- 
jects relating  to  the  United  States,  a 
larger  number  than  that  of  any  other 
country. 

The  High  Plains  and  Their  Utilization 

is  the  subject  of  a  report  by  Willard  D. 
Johnson  in  the  Twenty-first  Annual  Re- 
port of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  and 
now  published  in  separate  form.  Mr. 
Johnson  believes  that  the  great  plains 
and  arid  regions  west  of  the  Rockies 
that  form  Colorado  and  New  Mexico 
and  the  western  portions  of  Nebraska, 
Kansas,  Oklahoma,  and  Texas  were 
formed  by  deposits  from  the  mountain 
chain.  Gradually,  however,  the  region 


410 


THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


was  broken  up  by  streams  flowing  off 
the  eastern  slope.  The  effect  of  this 
erosion  is  very  perceptible  in  New  Mex- 
ico and  Colorado,  and  is  gradually  eat- 
ing away  the  portions  that  remain. 

In  The  Relation  of  Sparrows  to  Agri- 
culture, by  S.  D.  Judd,  Ph.  D.,  are 
given  the  results  of  a  careful  study 
of  the  value  of  these  birds  to  the  farmer 
and  agriculturist.  The  report  is  pub- 
lished by  the  Biological  Survey  as  Bul- 
letin no.  15,  prepared  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Dr.  C.  Hart  Merriam.  Sparrows 
are  notorious  seed-eaters ;  but  as  we 
have  not  positively  known  whether 
they  preferred  the  seeds  of  weeds  or  of 
useful  plants,  it  has  been  impossible  to 
state  definitely  whether  they  injured 
or  helped  the  farmer.  An  examination 
of  the  stomachs  of  4,273  sparrows  has 
shown,  however,  that  sparrows  feed 
chiefly  on  the  seeds  of  noxious  weeds, 
and  are  therefore  of  economic  value. 

Dr.  Charles  H.  Townsend,  of  the  U.  S. 

Fish  Commission,  is  the  compiler  and 
editor  of  a  volume,  published  by  the 
Commission,  giving  the  dredging  and 
other  records  of  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commis- 
sion steamer  Albatross,  with  a  bibliog- 
raphy relative  to  the  work  of  the  ves- 
sel. The  author  accompanied  most  of 
the  cruises  of  the  vessel  as  naturalist 
during  the  last  fifteen  years.  The  vol- 
ume gives  the  data  of  1,786  hauls  of  the 
dredge.  The  dredging  covers  areas  ex- 
tending from  the  banks  of  Newfound- 
land, along  both  coasts  of  North  and 
South  America,  to  Bering  Sea,  with  a 
few  limited  areas  in  the  tropical  Pacific 
and  between  Japan  and  Kamchatka. 
The  deepest  haul  was  4,173  fathoms. 

The  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  for  1900  forms 
a  handsome  volume  of  over  700  pages, 
with  100  full-page  plates  and  maps.  It 
consists  of  two  parts — the  report  of  the 


Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Regents,  which 
is  a  summary  of  the  work  of  the  Insti- 
tution in  all  its  departments  during  the 
past  year,  and  a  general  appendix,  deal- 
ing mainly  with  the  advance  of  knowl- 
edge in  the  different  fields  of  science 
during  the  nineteenth  century.  In  the 
latter  part  of  the  report  Mr.  Langley  has 
included  some  forty  papers  summarizing 
the  century's  progress  in  astronomy, 
aeronautics,  chemistry,  physics,  elec- 
tricity, geology,  geography,  biology, 
and  in  special  lines  of  study,  as  malaria 
and  yellow  fever.  Some  of  the  papers 
are  reprints  from  memoirs  previously 
published,  while  others  are  contribu- 
tions specially  prepared  for  the  report. 
The  volume  forms  the  most  important 
compendium  that  has  yet  been  pub- 
lished of  what  man  has  done  during  the 
nineteenth  century  to  advance  knowl- 
edge. 

The  most  notable  memoir  in  the  vol- 
'ume  is  entitled  "  The  New  Spectrum." 
In  this  paper  Mr.  Langley  presents  a 
brief  summary  of  his  discoveries  during 
twenty  years  made  possible  by  the  in- 
vention of  the  bolometer.  Twenty  years 
ago  to  register  the  change  of  tempera- 
ture of  one  ten-thousandth  of  a  degree 
Centigrade  was  considered  remarkable. 
Today,  by  means  of  the  bolometer, 
which  has  been  continuously  perfected, 
it  is  possible  to  register  one  one-hun- 
dred-millionth part  of  a  degree. 

The  immense  field  of  knowledge  that 
is  opened  by  such  a  study  of  the  sun's 
heat  is  appalling.  Mr.  Langley  hints 
that  it  may  be  possible  to  foretell  the  sea- 
sons, which  write  their  coming  upon  the 
records  of  the  spectrum.  He  concludes 
the  memoir  with  these  words:  ' '  We  are 
yet,  it  is  true,  far  from  able  to  prophesy 
as  to  coming  years  of  plenty  and  fam- 
ine ;  but  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say 
that  recent  studies  of  others,  as  well  as 
of  the  writer,  strongly  point  in  the  direc- 
tion of  some  such  future  power  of  pre- 
diction. ' ' 


NATIONAL    GEOGRAPHIC     SOCIETY     PRO- 
GRAM  OF   LECTURES   AND   MEETINGS 

The  Popular  Course  consisting  of  thirteen  lectures  will  be  delivered  in  the  National 
Rifles  Armory,  G  street  between  Ninth  and  Tenth  streets  northwest,  on  Friday  evenings  at 
8  o'clock,  commencing  November  8  and  alternating  with  the  Technical  Meetings  which  will 
be  held  in  the  Assembly  Hall  of  Cosmos  Club.  Experience  has  shown  that  it  is  unwise  to 
arrange  lectures  too  far  in  advance,  as  points  of  geographic  interest  shift  rapidly  ;  hence  only 
the  following  dates  have  been  definitely  assigned  : 

November  8.— The  Twelfth  Census  ....         Honorable  FREDERICK  H.  WINES 

Assistant  Director  of  the  Census 

As  a  practical  sociologist,  Dr.  Wines  has  given  special  attention  to  the  classes  and  move- 
ments of  our  population  as  ascertained  by  the  Census  Office,  and  his  lecture  will  form  the  first 
public  presentation  of  interesting  facts  and  conclusions  reached  during  the  past  year. 

November  22. — The  Interior  of  Borneo Prof.  A.  C.  HADDON 

Oxford.  Bug-land 

The  natives  of  Borneo  were  the  object  of  study  of  an  expedition  dispatched  to  the  island 
from  England  in  1898-1899.  As  leader  of  this  expedition,  Prof.  Haddon  obtained  much 
interesting  information  about  the  peoples  and  country  of  the  little-known  interior. 

December  6.— Peary's  Progress  Toward  the  Pole      ....        HERBERT  L,.  BRIDGMAN 

Vice-President  Arctic  Club  of  America 

Mr.  Bridgman  will  describe  the  lands  nearest  to  the  Pole  discovered  by  Peary  in  his  recent  arc- 
tic campaign.  Peary  is  now  beginning  his  fourth  consecutive  winter  in  the  land  of  snow  and  ice. 

December  20. — The  Trans-Siberian  Railway Honorable  E.  J.  Hirx 

As  a  member  of  important  committees  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  Mr.  Hill  has  taken 
a  practical  interest  in  the  extension  of  American  influence,  and  has  just  returned  from  th  e 
Orient  over  the  Trans-Siberian  railway.  His  journey  gave  opportunities  for  observations  of 
much  interest,  which  will  receive  first  announcement  through  the  Society. 

January  3. — The  new  Mexico Honorable  JOHN  W.  FOSTER 

Ex-Secretary  of  State 

General  Foster  was  U.  S.  Minister  to  Mexico  during  the  years  1873-1880,  when  the  republic 
was  just  starting  on  that  phenomenal  career  of  development  which  raised  it  to  a  prominent 
position  among  nations  and  placed  its  president  among  the  world's  great  leaders.  Twenty  years 
later  (in  1901)  he  revisited  the  country  as  its  guest ;  and  his  observations  and  impressions  will 
form  the  theme  of  his  lecture. 

January  17. — American  Progress  and  Prospects  in  the  Philippines.          General  A.  W.  GREELY 

Chief  Signal  Officer,  U.  S.  Army 

General  Greely  is  on  his  way  home  from  an  extended  tour  among  the  Philippine  Islands. 
As  an  example  of  American  progress  in  the  Philippines,  it  may  be  stated  that  6,000  miles  of 
telegraph  lines  and  cables  have  been  put  up  in  these  islands  by  the  U.  S.  Signal  Corps  in  the 
three  years  since  the  capture  of  Manila.  Telegraph  and  cable  connections  are  now  complete 
between  the  northern  coast  of  Luzon  and  Jolo,  1,000  miles  to  the  south. 


412         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 

Arrangements  have  also  been  made  for  the  following  popular  lectures,  at  dates  to  be- 
announced  later  : 

The  Appalachian  Forest  Reserve  ;  Honorable  JAMES  WILSON,  Secretary  of  Agriculture. 

The  Warship  and  its  Work  ;  Rear-Admiral  VV.  S.  SCHLBY. 

Fifty  Years  of  Immigration  ;  Honorable  E.  F.  McSwEENEY,  Asst.  Com.  Immigration. 

Cliff  Dwellings  of  Mesa  Verde  ;   Mrs.  JOHN  HAYS  HAMMOND. 

Explorations  in  New  York  City  ;  Mr.  JACOB  A.  Rns. 

Finland  ;  Mr.  GEORGE  KENNAN. 

Provisional  arrangements  have  been  made  for  lectures  on  Pacific  Cables,  Actual  and  Proposed  ; 
Our  Coming  Oceanic  Canal ;  America  Before  the  Advent  of  Man  ;  Chinese  Problems  ;  Lands  and 
Life  in  Ocean  Depths  ;  Colombia  ;  Danish  West  Indies  ;  and  Afghanistan — the  Buffer  State. 

Regular  Meetings  of  the  Society  for  the  reading  of  technical  papers  and  discussions  will  be 
held  in  the  Assembly  Hall  of  Cosmos  Club  on  Friday  evenings,  at  8  o'clock,  commencing 
November  i ,  and  alternating  with  the  Popular  Lectures. 

November    1. — Symposium  on  the  Growth  and  Prospects  of  the  Society   .    Pres.  GRAHAM  BELL 

Followed  by  Professor  HEILPRIN  and  others- 
November  15.— The  Lost  Boundary  of  Texas MARCUS  BAKER 

Cartographer,  U.  S.  Geological  Survey- 
November  29. — The  Best  Isthmian  Canal  Route ARTHUR  P.  DAVIS 

Chief  Hydrographer,  Isthmian  Canal  Commission. 

December  13. — The  Northwest  Boundary  : 

C.  H.  SINCLAIR  E.  C.  BARNARD  BAILEY  WILLIS 

U.  S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  U.  S.  Geological  Survey 

December  27. — Holiday  vacation. 
January  10. — Annual  Meeting,  Reports  and  Elections. 

The  Lenten  Course  of  five  lectures  will  be  delivered  in  Columbia  Theater,  F  street 
near  Twelfth,  at  4.20  o'clock,  on  Wednesday  afternoons  of  March  5,  12,  19,  and  26  and 
April  2  As  previously  announced,  the  general  subject  of  this  course  is  "  Problems  of 
the  Pacific "  the  special  topics  being  Japan,  Hawaii  and  Polynesia,  Australia  and  New 
Zealand,  Physical  Features  of  the  Great  Oceanic  Basin,  and  the  Pacific  as  a  Factor  in  World- 
Growth. 

The  program  is  not  yet  complete,  but  it  may  be  confidently  stated  that  each  subject  will 
be  treated  in  an  authentic  and  interesting  manner. 


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VOL.  XII,  No.  12 


WASHINGTON 


DECEMBER,  1901 


DIARY    OF   A  VOYAGE    FROM    SAN     FRAN- 
CISCO  TO   TAHITI   AND   RETURN,  1901 

BY  S.  P.  LANGLEY 


PREFACE 


UNTIL  lately  Tahiti  (Cook's  Ota- 
heite)  has  been  reached  from  the 
United  States  only  by  a  sailing 
schooner  from  San  Francisco  in  a  voyage 
of  six  or  seven  weeks.  There  has  been 
an  occasional  steamer  from  New  Zea- 
land ;  and  the  French,  who  are  in  pos- 
session of  the  island,  send  a  warship  at 
intervals;  but  on  the  whole  the  islanders 
are  in  very  much  the  same  condition 
that  they  were  a  hundred  years  ago. 

The  French  Government  has  j  ust  sub- 
sidized a  vessel  of  the  Oceanic  Steam- 
ship Company,  which  is  to  make  a  trip 
to  Tahiti  once  in  every  five  weeks,  the 
voyage  lasting  only  about  eleven  days. 
On  the  occasion  of  the  French  National 


June  25. — In  the  morning  of  the  25th 
of  June  I  went  down  to  see  the  Aus- 
tralia at  the  dock.  She  is  a  long,  nar- 
row vessel,  painted  white,  of  3,200  tons 
burden,  with  great  piles  of  lumber  on 
her  main  deck,  and  evidently  both  old 
and  overloaded.  I  secured  my  passage 
with  some  misgiving. 


Fete,  on  the  i4th  of  July  ( 1901),  the  com- 
pany advertised  a  trip  widely  through- 
out the  United  States. 

I  was  led  to  think  that  the  occasion 
was  one  for  seeing  the  native  ways  and 
customs  of  the  islands  before  the  inno- 
vations that  would  be  introduced  by  the 
steamer  communication  in  the  future, 
and,  expecting  to  have  a  companion,  I 
had  arranged  to  take  the  voyage.  My 
companion  failed  me  at  the  last  moment, 
and  I  took  the  trip  alone,  commencing 
my  diary  with  the  departure  from  San 
Francisco.  I  have  published  it  as 
written  at  the  time,  without  modifying 
the  style  such  diarial  notes  naturally 
take. 


June  26. — Going  down  to  the  boat  at 
9. 30  a.  m.,  I  hear  from  more  competent 
judges  than  myself  the  confirmation  of 
my  feeling  that  the  boat  is  extremely 
overloaded.  The  depth  to  which  she 
has  sunk  in  the  water  and  the  lumber 
on  the  decks  say  this  even  to  a  lands- 
man's eye  ;  but  when  I  get  on  board  of 


414          THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


her,  things  in  other  respects  look  better. 
She  has  a  prepossessing  s*et  of  officers, 
and  as  the  first-cabin  passengers  are  only 
about  forty  in  number,  there  will  evi- 
dently be  plenty  of  room.  A  consider- 
able part  of  the  passengers  appear  to  be 
minor  French  officials,  but  there  are  also 
some  Californians,  who  promise  pleasant 
company,  and  it  appears  that  many  of 
the  passengers  are  not  going  to  stay,  but 
are  on  a  pleasure  trip.  We  are  told  that 
we  are  to  stop  at  the  Marquesas  Islands, 
the  scene  of  Herman  Melville's  adven- 
tures in  "  Typee,"  there  to  take  on  300 
Marquesan  savages,  who  are  going  to 
Tahiti  to  participate  in  the  French  fete 
on  the  1 4th  of  July. 

The  vessel  flies  the  French  flag.  \Ye 
get  under  weigh  very  promptly  at  ten 
o'clock  and  pass  through  "the  Golden 
Gate"  into  the  Pacific,  running  for 
three  or  four  hours  directly  down  the 
coast  and  within  a  mile  or  so  of  it.  A 
great  black  whale,  a  mile  or  two  away, 
thrashing  about  and  throwing  up  his 
tail,  is  an  interesting  object.  The  sea 
is  not  high,  but  comes  freely  onto  the 
main  deck,  which  is  perhaps  only  six 
feet  out  of  water  !  We  are  accompa- 
nied by  an  increasing  number  of  ' '  goo- 
nies, ' '  a  dark  brown  bird,  spreading  five 
or  six  feet  of  long  narrow  wings,  the 
notable  character  of  which  is  that  they 
are  at  all  times,  in  sailing  flight,  car- 
ried below  the  body.  It  flapped  and 
then  sailed  with  extreme  swiftness,  con- 
stantly turning  till  the  line  joining  the 
wings  was  almost  vertical,  and  in  this 
position  the  tip  of  the  lower  wing  ap- 
peared to  just  graze  the  water,  but  I 
never  saw  it  pick  up  anything  in  this 
flight. 

The  table  is  good  for  a  vessel  of  the 
kind  There  are  some  pleasant  passen- 
gers, and  there  is  an  electric  light  and 
ice-making  plant,  so  that  the  vessel  is 
better  than  her  looks. 

June  27. — It  is  cold  enough  to  make 
semi-winter  clothing  comfortable,  and  I 
turned  in  at  9.30  o'clock  and  slept  for 
ten  hours  in  spite  of  the  occasional  seas 


which  broke  over  the  main  deck  in  .solid 
water,  once  striking  against  my  state- 
room window  on  the  upper  deck  (star- 
board side )  with  a  bang,  as  if  they  would 
stave  it  in.  Our  course  was  south,  and 
even  south  by  east.  Vessel  rolls 
It  is  still  pleasantly  cool  ;  bright  sun. 

June  28. — Slightly  overcast  and  misty : 
not  as  cool,  but  not  hot  ;  read  and  con- 
versed with  fellow-passengers. 

June  29. — Today,  about  noon,  \\x- 
enter  the  tropics  The  run  has  been 
316  miles.  The  days  are  still  cool  ;  the 
weather  is  just  right.  I  sit  forward  on 
the  broad  upper  deck,  beneath  the  awn- 
ing, with  four  or  five  pleasant  people  ; 
read,  talk,  sleep,  and  am  content.  Most 
of  the  passengers  are  on  the  port  side  of 
the  main  deck  below,  the  vessel  rocks 
lullingly,  and  there  is  an  occasional 
mist.  The  last  ' '  goony  ' '  left  us  today. 

"  The  Injian  Ocean  sets  an'  smiles, 

So  sof,  so  bright,  so  bloomin'  blue  ; 

There  aren't  a  wave  for  miles  an'  miles, 

Excep'  the  jiggle  from  the  screw." 

June  jo. — Sunday  ;  no  observance. 
Day  slightly  warmer,  but  pleasant.  We 
are  about  half  way  to  the  Marquesas, 
and  no  sight  of  a  sail  nor  any  sign  of 
man,  probably,  until  we  get  to  them. 
One  does  not  like  to  think  of  fire  or  an 
accident  happening  hoe. 

The  captain  has  an  instrument,  which 
he  calls  a  Pelorus,  for  getting  the  true 
course  of  the  vessel  by  the  sun — some- 
thing like  a  marine  solar  compass. 

Got  a  list  of  Tahitian  words  from  a 
lady  passenger,  Mrs.  Hart,  the  wife  of 
the  Captain  Hart  mentioned  in  Steven- 
son's South  Seas.  Stevenson  says  that 
in  1878  (when  he  wrote)  cannibalism 
was  not  yet  extinct  in  the  Marquesas, 
whose  inhabitants  he  calls  the  most 
savage  of  the  South  Seas.  Mrs.  Hart 
confirms  Stevenson's  account  of  the 
massacre  on  her  husband's  plantation, 
and  his  account  in  general.  He  men- 
tions that  the  natives  were  prevented 
by  the  French  Government  from  carry- 
ing away  whole  the  bodies  of  the  slain 


A  VOYAGE  FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO  TO  TAHITI      415 


to  eat,  but,  finding  a  lot  of  empty  match- 
boxes, they  cut  up  one  body  into  small 
pieces  and  sent  it  as  tid-bits  in  these 
little  boxes  over  the  island  ! 

July  i. — In  the  "  Doldrums;  "  much 
warmer.  A  white  gull  with  a  long 
feather  in  its  tail  (the  "tropic  bird") 
and  sundry  flapping  and  diving  birds  ac- 
company the  vessel. 

July  2. — Frequent  showers  ;  warm. 

July  j. — Vessel  rolls  a  great  deal, 
many  sick,  but  I  am  exempt.  Cool 
wind  and  very  pleasant. 

July  4.. — Pass  the  Equator  at  7  a.  m. 
ship's  time.  Celebration  by  the  Amer- 
icans— speeches,  one  by  Judge  K.,  brief 
and  appropriate.  In  afternoon,  games, 
"  chalking  the  deck,"  mock  prizes,  etc. 

July  5. — A  little  warmer.  We  are  to 
see  Nukahiva  tomorrow  morning. 

THE  MARQUESAS 

July  6. — Awoke  at  5.30,  dressed,  and 
went  on  deck.  It  was  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  before  sunrise,  but  only  the  eastern 
sky  was  bright.  The  boat's  engine  had 
stopped,  and  the  bow  was  pointed  to  a 
great  mass  of  rock  of  jagged  outline,  yet 
covered  with  green  nearly  to  the  summit, 
all  laying  to  the  north  of  us.  The  sun 
below  the  horizon  seemed  to  radiate 
greenish-blue  fan-shaped  streamers,  the 
sky  between  and  below  which  shifted 
rapidly  between  these  and  primrose  tints, 
or  what  was  not  primrose,  but  some 
nameless  shade  of  delicate  quickening 
color,  that  we  all  looked  at  in  delight. 
Just  before  the  sun  arose  the  bright  light 
struck  between  the  awning  and  the  deck 
and  lit  up  'the  groups  of  passengers  on  a 
dark  background  with  an  effect  like  that 
of  the  lime-light  at  a  play.  It  was  per- 
fect, unless  it  might  have  been  charged 
with  being  a  bit  theatrical  ! 

The  vessel  anchored  half  a  mile  from 
the  shore.  The  harbor  of  Tyowai  is  on 
the  south  of  the  island.  We  waited  two 
or  more  hours,,  apparently  until  the 
French  official  in  charge  had  finished 
his  breakfast,  and  only  at  9  o'clock  we 


went  ashore.  I  believe  A.  was  the  only 
one  who  remained  on  board.  He  proph- 
esied intolerable  sand  flies  and  heat  for 
us,  but  we  found  neither. 

The  old  queen,  who  was  the  last  au- 
thentic relic  of  the  ancient  sovereignty, 
had  died  24  days  before,  so  there  was 
nothing  to  see  but  the  mission.  The 
nuns  gave  us  something  they  called 
lemonade — a  mildly  fermented  sort  of 
drink. 

The  shore  was  covered  with  cocoanut, 
breadfruit,  and  orange  trees.  There 
were  no  native  houses,  only  30  to  40 
European-built  wooden  ones,  and  every- 
thing, except  perhaps  the  mission,  had 
an  air  of  shabby  decay.  The  island's 
population  is  said  to  have  dwindled  from 
18,000  to  350.  The  missionaries,  I  un- 
derstand, whether  Catholic  or  Protest- 
ant, feel  obliged  to  admit  that  as  a  rule 
they  have  been  able  to  change  the  na- 
tives' lives  in  external  form  only.  Cloth- 
ing is  worn  and  hymns  are  sung  instead 
of  savage  songs  ;  marriage  is  nominal, 
and  underneath  this  everything  is  abso- 
lutely as  it  was  in  pagan  times. 

A  little  outrigged  boat,  with  one  man, 
had  come  out  with  a  few  bananas  and 
' '  vees, ' '  a  sort  of  small  mango,  pear- 
shaped,  with  a  thin  banana-like  skin 
and  a  very  juicy  interior,  having  a  mild 
pineapple  taste.  But  this  was  the  only 
thing  good  save  the  cocoanuts,  of  whose 
water  we  drank  abundantly.  We  had 
been  expected  for  long;  our  arrival  was 
what  might  be  called  the  great  event  of 
their  year,  but  no  one  paid  any  atten- 
tion to  it.  No  one  got  anything  ready 
to  sell  or  came  off  to  see  the  ship,  except 
the  man  in  the  little  boat,  until  just  be- 
fore we  were  leaving. 

The  natives  wear  European  dress, 
when  they  wear  anything,  the  women 
being  in  very  gaudy  French  calicoes. 
The  men,  especially  the  elder,  are  tat- 
tooed, the  effect  being  that  of  uniform 
bands  of  olive-greenish  color  across  the 
face,  rather  than  any  design.  One  old 
lady,  however,  had  her  left  hand  and 
wrist  elaborately  tattooed,  and  I  was  told 


Gathering  Cocoanuts 


A  VOYAGE  FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO  TO  TAHITI      417 


that  it  was  the  hand  with  which  she  ate 
"  poee."  A  boy  "  walked  "  up  a  tree 
and  knocked  down  half  a  dozen  cocoa- 
nuts,  the  milk  of  one  of  which  I  drank. 
I  have  tried  to  get  some  breadfruit 
Booked  and  some  fresh  fish;  so  far  un- 
successfully. I  have  returned  to  lunch 
and  am  writing  this  on  the  deck,  not 
meaning  to  return  to  the  shore. 

Four  large  boats  are  coming  round 
the  eastern  point,  sounding  conch- 
shells  and  beating  drums.  They  are 
from  a  neighboring  valley  and  come,  to 
the  number  of  fifty  or  more  natives,  to 
execute  a  dance  for  our  party,,  which  I 
am  not  going  on  shore  again  to  see.  The 
300  natives  whom  it  wras  advertised  the 
ship  would  take  to  Papeete  have  not 
appeared.  We  are  told  that  they  had 
made  great  preparations  for  going,  but 
that  the  governor  had  changed  his 
mind. 

And  Typee  !  The  proprietor  of  the 
^Typee  Valley,  Mr.  G. ,  is  on  board.  He 
describes  it  as  having  two  or  three  fam- 
ilies living  on  it  and  some  wild  cattle,  as 
containing  two  or  three  square  miles, 
and  as  being  five  or  six  miles  long.  It 
must  be  much  as  it  was  in  Melville's 
time,  but  without  the  inhabitants.  The 
path  to  it,  leading  over  the  mountains, 
is  visible  from  the  ship  It  is  a  slow 
ride,  two  hours  long,  or  about  six  miles 
from  the  harbor,  although  Melville  wan- 
dered for  days  in  getting  to  it.  It  is  de- 
scribed as  having  the  most  considerable 
stream  of  the  island  running  through  it 
(but  without  the  little  lake  Melville 
mentioned)  and  as  being  lined  with 
ancient  "Ti's." 

The  mouth  of  the  bay  where  the  Typee 
Valley  enters  the  ocean  and  where  Mel- 
ville escaped,  is  visible  from  the  ship, 
eight  miles  away,  and  the  Happar  Val- 
ley must  be  between  us  and  it.  So 
near — and  we  sail  at  4  ! 

Got,  with  Mr.  K.  (a  merchant  of  Pa- 
peete and  a  passenger),  a  basket  of  beau- 
tiful fresh  fish,  alive,  of  varied  colors — 
some  pure  crimson,  some  striped  with 


green,  etc.  Mr.  K.  sent  a  man  to  get 
them,  or  we  should  have  had  none,  the 
natives  being  too  lazy  to  catch  any. 

We  took  on  four  horses  which  were 
swum  out  to  the  ship.  It  was  curious 
to  see  the  naked  natives  diving  under 
the  kicking  beasts  to  attach  the  hoisting 
gear.  We  took  on  two  or  three  French- 
men and  as  many  natives  (instead  of  the 
300  !)  and  sailed  at  5  o'clock. 

July  7. — Nothing  to  record. 

July  8. — After  a  somewhat  rough 
night,  a  beautiful  morning.  The  vessel 
(at  8)  is  passing  an  "atoll"  some  30 
miles  long  and,  I  suppose,  8  or  10  broad 
from  rim  to  rim,  the  low  beach  being 
covered  with  trees,  but  a  few  of  which 
are  cocoa-palms.  They  say  that  the 
natives  of  these  atolls  have  all  the  pearl- 
fishing  in  their  own  hands,  the  French 
government  not  allowing  the  com  petition 
of  diving  machines.  The  great  gain  is 
not  in  the  pearls,  but  in  the  shells,  which 
bring  a  hundred  times  as  much  profit,  on 
the  whole,  being  very  large  and  worth 
in  Tahiti  about  90  cents  in  American 
money  per  kilo.  They  sell  in  London 
f°r  x£3°°  sterling  the  ton,  so  that  for 
once  the  natives  get  a  fair  share  of  the 
profit,  some  of  them  making,  in  the  best 
season,  30  or  40  Chile  dollars  (the  Chile 
dollar  is  as  large  as  our  silver  dollar,  but 
passes  for  only  40  cents)  a  day  at  the 
opening  of  the  fishing. 

The  greatest  depth  an  expert  diver 
can  go  is  about  70  feet,  and  the  extreme 
time  he  can  stay  under  water  is  said  to 
be  a  little  over  two  minutes. 

We  are  through  with  the  dangers  of 
the  night,  and  are  enjoying  the  prospect 
of  landing  tomorrow  morning. 

TAHITI 

July  9. — We  arrived  off  Tahiti  early 
in  the  morning.  It  is  a  pile  of  moun- 
tains clothed  with  green  to  the  summits, 
more  than  7,000  feet  high, with  a  narrow 
strip  of  low  land  between  their  feet  and 
the  sea,  in  which  narrow  space  nearly 


8         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


149*  i  o' 


(49*35 


I?  55 


Map  of  Tahiti,  showing  the  many  rivers  that  flow  from  the  high  mountains  in 

the  interior. 


all  the  natives  live,  the  whole  lofty  in- 
terior being  uninhabited.  In  the  center 
is  a  fantastic  group  called  ' '  The  Dia- 
dem," and  opposite,  15  miles  away,  is 
a  most  picturesque  island,  Mourea.  I 
take  the  first  boat  ashore  and  am  re- 
warded by  reaching  K.'s  store  at  9.45 
a.  m.,  in  time  to  order  some  clothes  (to 
be  done  tonight)  before  every  one  has 
gone  to  his  (French)  breakfast,  after 
which  all  business  ceases  for  two  or 
three  hours. 

The  town  is  stretched  along  the  shore, 
and  has  nothing  of  interest.  It  has  no 
hotel,  and  no  markets  of  any  kind,  ex- 
cept for  the  things  which  nature  fur- 
nishes the  natives  gratis  ;  not  so  much 
as  fresh  eggs  are  to  be  thought  of,  the 


only  eggs  being  brought  by  our  own  ship 
from  San  Francisco. 

The  rest  of  the  day  is  passed  on  the 
ship,  while  Mr.  K. ,  our  general  provider, 
and  immediate  agent  of  Providence,  is 
trying  to  get  horses  and  vehicles  for  an 
excursion  around  the  island.  In  the 
evening  he  reports  that  he  has  gathered 
four  or  five  conveyances,  sufficient  for 
a  party  of  twenty  to  go  around  the 
island.  That  number  join  (two-thirds 
of  the  part}' being  ladies),  and  I,  seeing 
nothing  else,  join  with  them  on  the  un- 
derstanding that  I  do  not  go  all  the  way 
around,  but  have  a  carriage  to  myself 
and  leave  at  "the  neck." 

July  10. — The  party  starts  from  K.'s 
store  at  about  9.  Mr.  K.  has  sent 


A  VOYAGE  FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO  TO  TAHITI      419 


couriers  around  the  island,  both  ways, 
to  announce  our  coming  to  the  chiefs 
who  are  to  provide  for  us. 

We  pass  through  sugar  plantations, 
and  go  by  Mr.  K.'s  country  place.  On 
his  lawn,  between  his  house  and  the 
Pacific,  are  two  old  sacrificial  stones. 
He  says  he  is  sure  of  finding  plenty  of 
human  bones  there  when  he  uncovers 
the  site.  We  go  on  by  a  delightful 
shady  road  close  by  the  sea,  till,  at 
12.30,  we  stop  at  Papenoo  for  a  native 
breakfast.  The  principal  dishes  are  ( i ) 
breadfruit  cooked  (baked)  in  leaves. 
It  cuts  like  soft,  very  fine  cheese,  and 
I  can  hardly  define  the  taste,  but  it  is 
mildly  pleasant.  (2)  Young  pig,  fed 
exclusively  on  cocoanut.  It  tastes  half 
cocoanut,  half  pig  !  It  is  eaten  with  a 
sauce  of  sea-water,  lime,  and  cocoanut 
juice.  (3)  Fish.  (4)  Oranges,  cocoa- 
nuts,  and  other  fruits.  (N.  B. — Cocoa- 
nut  water  and  Bordeaux  mix  very  well. ) 


The  pigs,  mostly  little  black  creatures, 
appear  to  have  been  left  by  the  Span- 
iards 300  years  ago,  and  to  be  the  only 
animal  known  to  the  island,  and  the 
only  quadruped  known  to  the  older 
natives.  Pig  ("pua"),  then,  has  be- 
come the  generic  name  for  animals ; 
thus,  a  horse  is  pua  horo,  ' '  the  pig  that 
runs  over  the  ground,"  man  (as  an  edi- 
ble) is  long  pig. 

The  native  women  sing  ' '  himinies  ' ' 
with  some  very  striking  effects.  The 
voices  have  something  plangent  and 
metallic  in  them,  yet  are  melodious  and 
in  harmony.  In  the  first  song,  at  the 
end  of  each  verse,  all  stopped  suddenly, 
giving  the  effect  of  the  ' '  couac  ' '  of  the 
opera  singer.  In  all  the  verses  there 
was  an  undertone  beneath  the  song. 
This  undertone  continued  alone  for  a 
few  seconds  at  the  end  of  each  verse, 
after  the  superposed  song  was  finished, 
and  died  out  separately  and  slowly,  like 


Robinson  Crusoe  Hut 


42 o         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


the  drone  of  some  great  bagpipe.  The 
natives  gave  names  to  each  of  us,  mine 
being  "  A-to-hi,"  which  means  "  qui  a 
les  lauriers. ' ' 

The  place  where  we  breakfasted  (at 
Papenoo)  was  a  semi-European  house 
belonging  to  the  chief  of  the  district.  It 
was  a  large  one-story  shed-like  building. 
\Ve  left  at  about  2  o'clock,  and  traversed 
a  still  more  lovely  embowered  road,  with 
the  sea  dashing  on  the  rocks  within  a 
rod  much  of  the  way.  The  land  and 
the  rocks  were  covered  with  verdure, 
this  green  meeting  the  open  ocean  with- 
out any  intervening  beach.  We  forded 
stream  after  stream,  until  my  jaded  little 
rats  of  horses  gave  out  in  the  middle  of 
each  and  had  to  be  helped  on. 

I  had  taken  the  lead,  so  that  the  pro- 
cession could  not  get  on  without  help- 
ing me  forward  to  clear  its  own  way. 
The  ride  was  prolonged  until  the  antici- 
pated two  hours  became  four;  the  fords 
grew  worse  and  worse,  and  I,  for  one, 
was  well  tired  when,  just  after  six 
o'clock,  and  in  the  twilight,  we  arrived 
at  another  chief's,  who  had  a  large 
shed  of  three  rooms,  with  the  floor  cov- 
ered with  beds.  Most  of  the  houses, 
however,  were  ' '  Robinson  Crusoe  ' ' 
huts,  neatly  built  of  upright  bamboo. 
The  natives  are  wilder  than  those  near 
Papeete.  The  men  are  often  naked,  ex- 
cept for  a  loin-cloak  of  gaudy  calico,  no 
dress  of  native  cloth  (tappa)  being,  as  a 
rule,  worn  by  either  sex. 

We  supped  much  as  we  breakfasted, 
except  that  I  was  instructed  in  the 
proper  way  of  eating  ' '  Poee, ' '  the  cling- 
ing plastic  mess  of  starch-like  consist- 
ency which  so  clung  to  Melville's  fingers 
in  Typee.  The  secret  is  simple — imitate 
the  native,  who  puts  his  fingers  in  water 
first,  then  in  the  "  Poee,"  and  then 
sucks  them  dry.  I  chose  to  sleep  out 
of  doors  on  a  mattress  in  the  wagon, 
amid  the  cocoa  palms,  the  passing  foims 
of  the  natives,  and  the  lights  from  the 
cooking  fires.  The  novelty  of  the  situa- 
tion kept  me  awake  a  good  deal.  The 


nearby  surf  sounded  in  my  ears  all  night, 
and  the  sea  breeze  was  so  cool  that  I 
drew  my  rubber  overcoat  over  the  cov- 
erlet for  warmth. 

July  ii. — I  awoke  with  the  noise  of 
the  natives  in  the  early  morning  twi- 
light, and  went  down  to  the  beach. 
This  was  covered  with  rough  stones  and 
shell  heaps,  which  made  walking  diffi- 
cult; but  I  got  into  the  water  and  let 
the  Pacific  roll  over  me,  and  going  back 
just  as  the  sun  arose,  ate  one  of  the 
oranges  from  the  trees  about  me  like  a 
simple  savage  ! 

After  breakfast  we  moved  on,  over 
roads  and  through  rivers  which  grew 
increasingly  difficult  for  about  ten  miles. 
This  is  the  wild  part  of  the  island. 
The  road  grew  in  places  too  narrow  t<> 
let  a  wagon  pass  quite  in  safety  between 
the  cliff  on  the  right  and  the  sea,  and 
finally  we  came  to  a  river  which  was 
five  feet  deep  opposite  the  place  where 
we  entered  it. 

Turning  down  the  river  we  drove  in 
it  to  a  ford  where  the  water  onl}-  just 
covered  the  floor  of  the  wagon,  and  then 
turned  up  the  stream  again  to  where 
the  landing  was  to  be  made,  and  here 
was  the  tug,  to  get  over  the  fallen  trees 
which  encumbered  the  stream,  and  up 
the  steep  bank.  The  horses  struggled, 
the  natives  filled  the  water  with  their 
heads  and  brown  bodies,  tugging  at  their 
horses'  heads  and  lifting  the  wheels  ; 
some  of  the  wagons  filled,  and  some  of 
the  ladies  were  carried  ashore  on  the 
backs  of  the  islanders.  We  all  got  safe 
ashore,  but  it  was  lively  while  it  lasted. 

When  we  got  to  ' '  the  neck  ' '  the 
main  party  went  on  and  I  turned  back 
to  go  down  the  civilized  side  of  the 
island,  over  bridges  and  a  good  road 
to  Tati's.*  I  got  to  Chief  Tati  Sal- 
mon's house  about  2.30,  where  I  was 

*  Chief  Tati  Salmon,  the  head  of  one  of  the 
oldest  families  and  most  considerable  chiefs  of 
the  island,  is  so  public  a  character  that  I  need 
hardly  apologize  for  mentioning  his  name  and 
his  hospitality  here. 


NAT.  QEOQ.  MAG. 


VOL.  XII,  1901,  PL.  2 


Crossing  a  Ford 


NAT.  GEOG.  MAG. 


VOL.  XII,  1901.  PL.  3 


Landing 


A  VOYAGE  FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO  TO  TAHITI      421 


warmly  welcomed.  I  lay  down  and 
slept  till  near  dinner  time.  Then  I 
dined  in  state  on  the  portico  with  Tati 
and  his  two  sons.  Our  dinner  was  of 
soup,  fish,  dressed  in  native  style,  with 
cocoanuts,  shrimps,  and  I  forget  what 
else. 

The  manner  of  these  sons  was  very 
good,  and  to  their  father  it  was  most 
respectful.  I  noticed  a  pretty  cover  on 
a  table,  which  Tati  said  was  a  chief's 
mat.  He  offered  to  get  one  for  me. 

Tati,  whom  I  had  met  in  Washington, 
is  the  son  of  a  native  mother  and 
a  white  father,  and  his  family,  a  very 
ancient  one,  is  still  one  of  the  most 
prominent,  as  he  is  one  of  the  best  edu- 
cated and  most  intelligent,  of  the  island- 
ers. He  mentioned  to  me  that  the  chiefs 
were  much  at  war  in  his  great-grand- 
father's time,  and  that  the  object  being 
to  get  the  heads  of  their  enemies,  these 
were  cut  off  and  buried  by  the  relatives 
of  the  dead  in  some  secret  place.  Tati 
said  also  that  the  heads  of  some  of  his 
own  family  were  buried  in  a  place  in  the 
mountains,  whose  position  he  only  ap- 
proximately knew,  the  secret  of  the 
exact  locality  being  kept  by  some  old 
member  of  the  clan.  I  have  heard  from 
others  that  his  great-grandfather  had 
large  ideas  of  housekeeping.  There  is 
on  the  island  a  pitcher  plant  holding  two 
or  three  tablespoonfuls  of  water;  and, 
according  to  tradition,  the  old  chief  oc- 
casionally had  a  thousand  men  or  so 
marched  up  in  the  morning,  each  with 
a  pitcher  plant  stuck  in  the  right  ear, 
and  the  emptied  contents  formed  the 
great  man's  bath. 

After  dinner  I  opened  a  topic  which 
proved  interesting  to  us  all,  the  ' '  super- 
natural "  of  the  island.  We  talked  for 
two  hours,  and  I  heard  of  the  ' '  fire- 
walking.  "  One  of  Tati '  s  sons  said  that 
he,  at  a  fire-walk  given  in  Tahiti  three 
years  before,  having  on  shoes,  had  fol- 
lowed the  barefooted  priest  over  the 
' '  red-hot ' '  stones,  and  that  his  shoes 
were  not  burned  in  the  least. 


July  12. — This  morning  I  started  at 
8.30  and  drove  to  Papeete,  stopping  for 
a  bath  in  a  stream,  and  getting  in  at 
about  2  ;  breakfasted  at  the  execrable 
restaurant,  went  to  the  ship,  and  then 
came  to  Apouhara  Salmon's,  a  son  of 
Tati's,  where  a  room  had  been  pro- 
cured for  me.  Here  I  spent  the  after- 
noon. Just  opposite  is  a  large  open 
space  where  the  natives  congregate  with 
drums  and  sing  ' '  himinies  ' '  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  fete,  and  the  place  is  not 
silent  !  Apouhara  had  gone  out  in  the 
morning  to  meet  me,  but  missed  me  on 
the  way.  I  saw  his  wife,  who  is  the 
daughter  of  the  queen  of  a  neighboring 
island,  and  Miss  Salmon,  Tati's  sister, 
a  very  intelligent  and  agreeable  lad}'. 

July  13. — Drove  out  alone  this  morn- 
ing to  the  Fatoua  stream,  described  in 
Loti's  ' '  Rarahu  "  *  as  the  bathing  place. 
The  pools  he  mentions  are  gone,  I  am 
told,  but  I  drove  up  the  side  road  along 
the  bank  of  the  stream  for  at  least  two 
miles,  and  came  to  a  long,  deep  pool, 
shaded  by  trees  and  high  hills.  It  is 
about  200  feet  long  and  over  head  in  the 
middle.  The  water  is  just  cool  enough, 
an  ideal  bath.  As  we  rode  back,  I  got 
some  fresh  cocoanuts  from  the  trees,  and 
drank  all  the  water  from  one  of  them, 
eating  part  of  the  snowy  cup.  Oh,  the 
pleasant  memory  ! 

I  came  back  to  Apouhara' s,  when  I 
met  Tati's  son,  who  had  taken  part  in 
the  former  fire-walking  ceremony.  I 
asked  him  to  breakfast  with  me  at  the 
"Hotel  du  Louvre,"  which  he  did. 
There  I  saw  a  copy  of  the  Wide  World 
of  June  i,  containing  an  illustrated  ac- 
count of  the  recent  fire-walking  cere- 
mony in  Honolulu,  conducted  by  the 
old  native  priest,  Papa-Ita,  a  man  of 
about  sixty  years  of  age,  who  is  in  town, 
and  to  whom  young  Tati  introduced  me. 
He  is  not  the  high  priest  (who  lives  in 
one  of  the  Windward  Islands),  but  a 
disciple,  and  he  says  he  will  give  an  ex- 

*  Pierre  Loti,  "Rarahu,"  1880,  reprinted  1882 
under  the  title  "  Le  Marriage  de  Loti." 


Cook  Island  Chief 


A  VOYAGE  FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO  TO  TAHITI      423 


The  Road  to  Point  Venus 


hibition  here  on  Wednesday.  I  offered 
to  pay  for  the  wood  for  the  fire,  if  neces- 
sary. The  old  man  says  he  could  teach 
the  art  in  about  a  month.  It  consists, 
as  I  understood,  in  mystic  rites,  but 
there  is  no  physical  anointing.  The 
prophet  said  he  was  going  to  pray  for  the 
next  two  or  three  days,  and  I  sent  him 
to  his  home  in  my  carriage. 

I  went  on  board  the  steamer  and  told 
the  captain,  the  ship's  doctor,  and 
U.  S.  Consul  Doty  of  the  prospective 
exhibition.  Apouhara  says  that  when 
Papa-Ita  was  here  in  1897,  any  num- 
ber of  the  people  (15  or  20)  followed 
the  priest  through  the  fire.  When  all 
are  through  some  one  calls,  "  All  out," 
and  the  priest  turns  around  and  marches 
back  again*.  If  he  turns  and  looks  back 
before  all  are  -out,  those  still  there  will 
be  burned  ! 


Arranged  with  a  French  livery-stable 
keeper  for  a  horse  and  carriage  tomorrow. 

July  14.. — A  wretched  horse  and  car- 
riage came,  and  I  went  to  the  Fatoua 
Pool  and  had  another  delicious  bath. 
Came  in  and  went  to  the  ship,  where  I 
saw  Mr.  K.,  and  spoke  to  him  about  the 
fire-walk.  He  attributes  the  ' '  miracle  ' ' 
to  the  natives'  horny-soled  feet,  but  does 
not  explain  how  tender  feet  of  Euro- 
peans are  not  burned. 

Paid  extravagant  bill  at  the  wretched 
"  Hotel  du  Louvre,"  and  arranged  to 
take  subsequent  meals  on  ship.  Mr.  K. 
promises  to  get  me  a  two-horse  team, 
and  to  send  ' '  Frank  ' '  around  today  at 
i  o'clock,  if  he  can  find  him,  but  he  has 
not  come.  (Today  is  the  French  4th 
of  July  and  the  occasion  of  the  govern- 
ment fetes  to  which  the  whole  island 
has  come.) 


424         THZ   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


July  /jr. — Went  out  to  the  public  danc- 
ing and  Bulging, in  competition  for  prizes 
offered  by  the  government.  It  takes 
place  in  the  square  before  the  govern- 
ment house,  and  everybody  is  there, 
either  performing  or  looking  on.  Al- 
most the  whole  population  of  the  island 
has  come. 

The  chief  interest  among  the  islanders 
seems  to  lie  in  the  competition  of  sing- 
ing "himinies,"  and  next  to  that,  in 
the  dancing,  which  is  pantomimic  as 
much  as  regular.  As  a  public  show, 
most  of  the  native  dances  are  unpre- 
sentable, so  that,  I  have  understood, 
the  authorities  have  had  some  difficulty 
in  finding  a  dance  which  will  do  for 
such  an  occasion.  Savages  are  here 
from  the  neighboring  islands,  a  fine- 
looking  chief  from  Cook  island  taking 
a  part,  and  a  woman  from  the  same 
island  gave  a  little  of  the  presentable 
part  of  the  ' '  Hoola  Hoola. ' '  Her  body 


would  be  quivering  like  a  jelly,  and  sud- 
denly grow  rigid  as  a  statue — a  notably 
odd  effect. 

In  the  afternoon  there  were  regattas, 
the  most  interesting  one  being  the  row- 
ing of  one  of  the  ancient  double  war 
canoes,  or  a  modern  duplication  of  it. 
There  were  42  rowers,  or  rather  pad- 
dlers.and  they  got  up  a  '  'spurt' '  of  speed 
which  I  estimated  at  about  seven  miles 
an  hour.  On  this  afternoon  we  sat  on 
the  deck  and  watched  the  wonderful 
sunset  behind  the  fantastic  peaks  of 
Mourea.  It  would  have  been  a  time  to 
quote  Byron — 

"  Slow  sinks  more  lovely  ere  its  course  be  run 
Along  Morea's  hills  the  setting  sun." 

only  that  the  tropic  sun  does  not  de- 
scend slowly. 

Frank,  my  driver,  came  at  i  o'clock 
with  the  old  carriage  and  one  horse. 
I  drove  Mrs.  K.  out  to  Point  Venus, 


Cook  Islanders 


A  VOYAGE  FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO  TO  TAHITI      425 


The  Pile  of  Stones  Ready  for  the  Fire  Walk 


and  saw  Cook's  "meridian"  stone. 
Frank  says  his  own  family  and  their 
ancestors  have  always  lived  near  here, 
and  that  their  traditions  say  that  Cook's 
vessel  was  first  seen  by  the  natives  from 
this  point,  and  that  he  landed  here.  In 
the  evening  the  whole  Apouhara  family 
went  out,  leaving  me  to  keep  house. 

July  16. — More  "  himinies"  in  morn- 
ing. In  one  very  good  dance  by  the 
Cook  islanders  over  thirty  persons  take 
part.  They  sit  down  in  three  rows, 
representing  rowers  in  a  canoe,  while 


two  scull  and  steer.  They  have  pad- 
dles, and  paddle  to  the  sound  of  drums. 
A  lookout  man  sweeps  the  horizon  till 
he  sees  a  big  fish,  and  the  canoe  rows 
for  him.  One  of  the  steerers  sharpens 
a  harpoon  and  passes  it  forward,  and 
the  fish  (a  man  dressed  in  red)  is  har- 
pooned. There  is  a  tremendous  time  in 
pulling  him  in  ;  he  runs  around  and  en- 
tangles the  line  among  the  bystanders, 
and  finally  he  gets  a  second  harpoon  in 
him,  is  hauled  on  board,  and  (in  panto- 
mime) cut  up  with  an  ax,  dismembered, 


426         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


and  eaten  by  the  crew.  Everybody  is 
in  n?0ion,  but  it  is  rather  a  pantomime 
than  a  dance. 

I  went  and  had  another  glorious  bath 
in  the  Fatoua  Pool  and  came  back  in 
time  for  lunch. 

THE  FIRE  WALK 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  over  to  see 
preparations  for  the  fire- walking.  With- 
in a  hundred  yards  of  the  ship  a  shal- 
low pit  is  dug  (not  apparently  oriented 
to  any  point  of  the  compass),  about 


9  feet  by  20  feet  by  1 8  inches  deep.  This 
is  to  be  filled  with  firewood,  and  the 
stones  heaped  on  the  wood.  These  are 
smooth,  water- worn,  volcanic  stones  of 
varying  size,  but  all  rather  large  and 
weighing,  at  a  guess,  from  15  to  50 
pounds.  The  number  of  the  stones  was 
about  200,  and  their  average  length 
about  15  inches. 

Old  Papa-Ita  says  that  a  woman  who 
lived  there  long  ago  and  who  died  and 
became  a  devil  (or  goddess)  is  the  one 
to  whom  he  prays  and  by  whose  medi- 
ation he  passes  unhurt  through  the  fire. 


The  aids  began  to  turn  the  stones  over  with  long  green  poles,  which  burned 

at  the  ends. " 


A  VOYAGE  FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO  TO  TAHITI      427 


Papa-Ita,     .     .      .     with  a  large  bunch  of   Ti  leaves, 

through  the  middle  rather  hurriedly 


began  to  walk 


I  have  spoken  to  several  respectable  na- 
tives who  separately  walked  through  it 
after  him  three  years  ago  here,  who  all 
agree  that  they  felt  little  heat  on  their 
feet,  but  a  good  deal  on  their  heads, 
their  ears,  and  their  hands. 

July  ij. — This  morning  arranged  to 
pay  $6.30  (Chile)  for  five  dozen  fish, 
which  were  delivered  early  and  put  on 
ice  ;  then  went  with  Mrs.  K.  and  bought 
the  best  shawl  to  be  obtained  in  town  for 
Mrs.  Apouhara  ;  paid  for  the  chief's  mat 
and  other  things  which  Tati  had  or- 
dered for  me,  and  then  left  my  lodgings 
for  the  ship.  I  bathed  for  the  last  time 
in  the  Fatoua  Pool  ;  called  on  the  gov- 
ernor and  left  my  card  and  Ambassador 
Cambon's  letter,  getting  an  answer  from 
the  governor  promptly,  with  an  invita- 


tion to  call  at  4  o'clock,  which  I  was 
obliged  to  decline  on  account  of  the  fire- 
walk  at  that  hour. 

In  preparation  for  the  fire  ceremony, 
I  took  a  tin  ship's  measure  full  of  fresh 
water,  which  held  very  nearly  5  quarts 
and,  by  weight,  9. 2  pounds.  The  empty 
tin  weighed  i.i  pound.  This  is  to  be 
used  in  half-filling,  with  three  or  four 
measures,  a  large  wooden  bucket  or  tub 
with  fresh  water,  into  which  one  of  the 
smaller  hot  stones  from  the  center  of 
the  fire  is  to  be  put  after  the  ceremony. 

I  am  told  that  the  fire  was  lighted  at 
a  little  after  12.  I  arrived,  with  Cap- 
tain Lawson,  Dr.  McNulty,  Chief  En- 
gineer Richardson,  and  two  assistants. 
The  wooden  bucket,  containing  3^  im- 


428        THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


perial  gallons  of  fresh  water  at  a  tem- 
perature of  20  Reamur  (77°  F.)  was 
provided,  together  with  iron  rakes  from 
the  engineer's  room.  The  firewood  was 
scarcely  sufficient  for  a  good  heating; 
the  stones  in  the  center  and  beneath 
were,  however,  undoubtedly  "red-hot." 
The  outer  enclosure,  surrounded  by  can- 
vas walls,  was  about  1 20  feet  by  60  feet. 

Mr.  Ducarron,  the  U.  S.  Deputy  Con- 
sul, says  that  Papa-Ita  tried  to  carry  on 
his  exhibition  in  another  island  at  the 
base  of  a  hill  composed  of  hard  lime- 
stones, from  which  he  exclusively  used 
stone.  (This  was  in  Raiatea). 

The  fire  there,  I  am  told,  invariably 
burned  for  4  or  5  days  before,  and  the 
stones  became  coated  with  lime.  I  learn 
that  on  one  occasion,  the  French  author- 
ities having  forbidden  him  to  perform 
in  his  usual  place,  he  made  the  "  oven  " 
of  other  stones,  heating  them  for  36 
hours.  On  attemping  to  cross,  he  walked 
only  part  of  the  way  and  ran  the  rest. 
His  two  disciples  and  a  woman  also  ran 
across,  and  the  woman's  feet  were  so 
badly  burned  that  she  was  laid  up  for  a 
week.  The  prophet  and  his  disciples 
declined  to  have  their  feet  examined, 
and  cleared  out  of  sight.  For  corrobo- 
ration,  Mr.  Ducarron  says  I  may  refer 
to  M.  Rousselot  (address,  Ministere  des 
Colonies,  Paris). 

NOTES  TAKEN   ON  THE  SPOT  WHILE 
THE  PERFORMANCE  WENT  ON 

At  4. 40,  when  the  priest  came  in,  the 
stones  on  the  side  of  the  pile  would  bear 
to  be  touched  by  the  hand. 

The  aids  began  to  turn  the  stones 
over  with  long  green  poles  which  burned 
at  the  ends.  The  upper  stones  were 
none  of  them  red-hot  on  top;  the  lower 
ones,  two  layers  deep,  however,  could 
be  seen  to  glow  between  the  others,  but 
they  were  only  near  red-hot  in  the 
center. 

The  old  priest,  Papa-Ita,  beat  the 
near  stones  with  a  large  bunch  of  Ti 


leaves  three  times,  and  then  began  to 
walk  through  the  middle  rather  hur- 
riedly, followed  by  two  acolytes,  who 
appeared  to  shun  the  hot  central  ridge, 
and  walked  along  the  sides.  Then  IK 
walked  back,  followed  by  several;  then 
back  once  more  with  an  increasing 
crowd,  most  of  whom  avoided  the  center. 
The  horny-footed  natives  did  the  l>c-st. 
One  white  boy  took  off  his  shoes,  but 
could  not  stand  the  heat  upon  his  bare 
feet,  and  stopped.  At  this  point  (/.  e. , 
after  the  second  passage  forward  and 
back),  I  had  the  hottest  stone  of  the  pile 
in  the  center,  on  which  the  feet  had  cer- 
tainly rested  several  times,  hauled  out 
and  placed  in  the  water  bucket.  The 
stone  was  much  larger  than  I  had  reck- 
oned or  wished.  A  trifle  of  the  water 
was  spilled  by  the  plunge,  and  the  rest 
boiled  hard  and  continued  to  do  so  for 
about  12  minutes.  At  the  end  of  that 
time  the  stone  was  still  too  hot  to  han- 
dle, and  I  sent  to  the  ship  for  a  sack  to 
hold  it,  directing  the  remaining  water  to 
be  measured.  It  was  a  long  stone ;  the 
lower  part  had  been  immersed  in  the 
central  fire,  and  it  was  certainly  much 
hotter  than  the  average  center  stones. 
During  this  time  other  persons  walked 
over  the  stones  without  special  prepa- 
ration, the  disciples  still  dodging  the 
hot  central  line  and  following  near  the 
cooler  part.  I  asked  Papa-Ita  if  he 
could  take  upon  his  hand  a  small  hot 
stone  near  the  center.  He  said  he 
would,  but  he  did  not.  Next  many 
white  persons  walked  over,  stopping 
long  enough  to  lean  over  and  lightly 
and  quickly  touch  the  hottest  stones 
with  their  hands.  Mr.  Ducarron  walked 
to  the  center  and  stood  there  shifting 
his  feet  (he  had  on  thin  shoes)  from 
stone  to  stone  for  about  10  seconds  be- 
fore finding  it  too  hot  to  stay. 

After  this  the  outer  crowd  was  al- 
lowed to  come  inside  the  barrier.  It  was 
a  capital  exhibition  of  savage  magic  and 
well  worth  seeing,  but  no  miracle  !  * 

*  See  Nature,  August  22,  1901. 


A  VOYAGE  FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO  TO  TAHITI      429 


July  18. — We  left  at  10.30  a.  m.,  the 
ship's  upper  deck  being  hung  with 
bunches  of  bananas.  As  we  went  out  of 
the  harbor  we  passed  wonderful  green- 
yellow  water  inside  the  barrier  reef,  and 
we  went  over  to  the  Island  of  Mourea 
(described  in  Melville's  Omoo)  to  give 
the  passengers  a  chance  to  visit  it  on 
the  side  not  distinctly  seen  from  Tahiti. 
It  is  very  irregular  in  outline,  with 
much  finer  cliffs  than  on  Otaheite,  and 
has  one  or  two  beautiful  bays  said  to 
be  good  harbors.  I  understand  that  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  secure  the  wThole 
island  for  a  small  sum. 

We  turned  and  went  northward,  bid- 
ding a  good-bye  to  Tahiti  and  its 
"  Diadem,"  which  we  are  never  likely 
to  see  again. 

July  19. — The  vessel  rolls  a  good  deal. 
The  temperature  is  pleasant. 

After  lunch,  weighed  the  stone  which 
I  got  from  those  used  in  the  fire-walk. 
It  weighs  65  pounds,  is  about  15  inches 
in  its  longer  diameter,  and  displaces  3^ 
imperial  gallons  of  water.  After  weigh- 
ing, it  was  thrown  overboard,  a  piece 
having  been  broken  off  to  take  home 
with  me.* 

*  When  I  reached  Washington  I  found  it  to 
be  so  porous  that  its  specific  gravity  was  but 
2.39  and  so  non-conductible  that  a  small  frag- 
ment could  be  held  in  the  fingers  like  a  stick  of 


July  20-24.. — On  the  23d  the  sea  al- 
most glassy,  reflecting  the  clouds. 

On  the  24th  the  smoke  ceases  to  blow 
southwest  from  the  funnel,  and  blows 
nearly  south.  The  weather  is  still  warm, 
but  shows  signs  of  getting  cooler. 

On  the  25th,  I  think,  or  some  later 
day  which  I  did  not  note  in  my  diary 
at  the  time,  the  whole  sea  around  the 
ship  seemed  to  be  animated  with  spout- 
ing whales.  We  could  see  them  at  a 
distance  as  they  rolled  or  played  ;  and 
once  a  great  shining  black  back,  20  to 
30  feet  of  which  was  out  of  water,  came 
directly  toward  the  quarter  of  the  ship, 
and  was  so  near  that  we  could  have 
thrown  a  stone  on  it,  when,  apparently 
catching  sight  of  the  vessel,  Leviathan 
dove,  and  made  ' '  the  deep  to  boil  like  a 
pot,"  leaving  a  quarter  of  an  acre  of 
foaming  ocean  where  he  had  gone  down. 

The  diary  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  kept  up  for  the  next  few  days, 
which  were  pleasant,  but  uneventful. 

In  the  early  morning  of  the  thirtieth 
of  July  we  waited  in  a  dense  fog,  and 
then  moved  slowly  in  through  the  Golden 
Gate,  and  reached  the  dock  at  San  Fran- 
cisco at  about  one  o'clock. 

sealing  wax  while  the  other  end  was  made  red- 
hot  in  a  blow-pipe.  This  non-conductibility  is 
evidently  the  principal  cause  of  the  success  of 
the  fire-walk  "miracle." 


THE   LOST   BOUNDARY   OF   TEXAS 

BY  MARCUS  BAKER,  CARTOGRAPHER,  U.  S.  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY 


THE  law  makes  the  looth  merid- 
ian of  west  longitude  the  bound- 
ary between  Oklahoma  and  the 
panhandle  of  Texas.  Similarly  the  law 
makes  the  io3d  meridian  the  boundary 
(in  part)  between  New  Mexico  and 
Texas.  Recent  government  maps  do 
not  so  show  these  boundaries,  but  place 
each  one  a  little  west  of  the  meridian 
with  which,  by  law,  it  coincides.  These 
discrepancies  have  led  to  an  inquiry  as 
to  the  cause  and  as  to  our  present  knowl- 
edge of  these  boundaries. 

These  and  similar  boundaries  are 
established  as  follows  :  First,  Congress 
enacts  what  the  boundary  shall  be ; 
second,  the  boundary  is  surveyed  and 
marked  in  conformity  with  the  law,  and, 
third,  the  survey  is  confirmed.  When 
all  this  has  been  done,  the  marks  set  by 
the  surveyor  become  the  boundary. 
Even  if  subsequent  surveys  disclose  in- 
accuracies in  the  original  survey,  as  it 
invariably  does,  nevertheless  the  monu- 
ments originally  set,  although  inaccu- 
rately, remain  the  boundary.  Perma- 
nence and  certainty  are  of  more  moment 
than  refinements  of  accuracy. 

If  the  accuracy  of  a  later  and  more 
refined  survey  was  a  sufficient  warrant 
for  changing  a  boundary  once  estab- 
lished, the  later  survey  would  itself  be 
subject  to  like  change  when  itself  fol- 
lowed by  a  survey  of  yet  greater  refine- 
ment. Thus  would  result  the  intoler- 
able nuisance  and  menace  of  a  shifting 
boundary.  The  rule  and  the  reason, 
therefore,  unite  in  declaring  that  subse- 
quent surveys  are  powerless  to  alter  or 
to  fix  boundaries.  Boundaries  become 
established  by  mutual  confirmation,  such 
confirmation  being  either  formal  or  pre- 
sumed from  long,  notorious,  and  undis- 
puted acquiescence.  It  is  not  the  sur- 


veying or  marking  done  by  the  surveyor 
which  establishes  a  boundary,  but  the 
acceptance  and  ratification  of  such  sur- 
vey by  the  parties.  If  neighbors  dis- 
pute about  their  line  fence,  a  surveyor 
is  powerless  to  settle  their  dispute  with- 
out the  consent  of  both.  This  power 
to  settle  vests  in  the  courts,  which  re- 
ceive and  weigh  not  only  the  testimony 
of  the  surveyor,  but  all  other  evidence 
pertitient  to  the  dispute.  Neglect  of 
these  obvious  principles  lies  at  the  bot- 
tom of  much  boundary  contention. 

The  boundary  along  the  looth  and 
io3d  meridians  originated  in  1850.  In 
1835  Texas  declared  her  independence 
of  Mexico,  and  on  December  29,  1845, 
was  admitted  to  the  Union.  It  then  com- 
prised parts  of  territory  now  included 
in  New  Mexico,  Oklahoma,  Kansas, 
Colorado,  and  Wyoming.  In  1 850  Texas 
sold  to  the  United  States  for  $10,000,000 
all  her  territory  north  of  latitude  36°  30' 
and  west  of  the  io3d  meridian  as  far 
south  as  latitude  32°.  In  the  act  of 
Congress  of  September  9,  1850,  effecting 
this  purchase,  the  boundary  here  con- 
sidered first  appears.  That  act  recites  : 

' '  The  state  of  Texas  will  agree  that 
her  boundary  on  the  north  shall  com- 
mence at  the  point  at  which  the  merid- 
ian of  one  hundred  degrees  west  from 
Greenwich  is  intersected  by  the  parallel 
of  thirty-six  degrees  thirty  minutes 
north  latitude,  and  shall  run  from  said 
point  due  west  to  the  meridian  of  one 
hundred  and  three  degrees  west  from 
Greenwich  ;  thence  her  boundary  shall 
run  due  south  to  the  thirty-second  de- 
gree of  north  latitude  ;  thence  on  the 
said  parallel  of  thirty-two  degrees  of 
north  latitude  to  the  Rio  Bravo  del 
Norte."  (See  the  line  A  B  C  D  of  the 
accompanying  figure.) 


THE    LOST    BOUNDARY*  OF   TEXAS 


43 


CLARK'S  SURVEY 

About  eight  years  later  provision  was 
made  for  running  and  marking  this 
boundary  by  commissioners  on  the  part 
of  Texas  and  the  United  States.  Mr. 
John  H.  Clark,  who  had  had  previous 
experience  as  an  astronomer  and  sur- 
veyor in  the  ' '  Far  West ' '  of  antebellum 
days,  was  chosen  early  in  July,  1859,  as 
commissioner  and  surveyor  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States,  and  Mr.  William 
R.  Scurry  on  the  part  of  Texas. 

It  was  agreed  that  the  survey  should 
begin  at  the  intersection  of  the  32d  par- 
allel with  the  Rio  Grande  near  El  Paso 
(  D  of  Fig.  i ) ,  proceed  east  on  that  par- 
allel to  the  1 03d  meridian  (C),  thence 
north  on  the  io3d  meridian  to  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  panhandle  (B),  and 
thence  east  on  the  parallel  of  36°  30'  to 
the  looth  meridian  (A).  With  some 
modifications,  due  to  lack  of  water  and 
difficulty  of  travel,  this  plan  was  carried 
out  in  the  years  1859  and  1860. 

The  station  Frontera,  of  the  Mexican 
boundary  survey  near  El  Paso,  was  ac- 
cepted as  the  starting  point  for  longi- 
tude, and  its  longitude  transferred,  by 
chaining  and  triangulation,  about  a 
dozen  miles  northward  to  the  32d  par- 
allel. The  party  then  chained  eastward 
along  the  32d  parallel  for  211  miles,  the 
•calculated  distance  to  the  io3d  merid- 


ian, and  there  set  a  monument  (C). 
Its  longitude  was  not  then  nor  has  it 
been  since  checked  by  astronomical 
observations.  Having  set  this  corner 
monument,  the  party  started  northward, 
but,  owing  to  the  total  absence  of  water, 
were  compelled,  after  proceeding  about 
20  miles  and  setting  two  monuments,  to 
leave  the  line  and  go  in  search  of  water. 
Clark  thereupon  decided  to  ascend  the 
Pecos  River  and  measure  offsets  to  the 
boundary  ;  but  the  distance  proved  so 
great  that  he  gave  this  up  and  proceeded 
to  the  northwest  corner  (B)  and  set 
about  carefully  determining  this  impor- 
tant corner.  An  astronomical  camp  was 
established  in  its  vicinity,  on  Rabbit  Ear 
Creek,  and  while  engaged  in  observing 
with  zenith  telescope  for  latitude  and 
moon  culminations  for  longitude  a  sur- 
veying party  was  sent  north  about  35 
miles  to  the  37th  parallel  to  transfer  the 
longitude  found  by  Clark,  in  1857,  on 
that  parallel  southward  to  the  parallel 
of  36°  30'.  This  was  done,  and  the 
northwest  corner  post  of  Texas  ( B )  es- 
tablished as  to  its  longitude  by  transfer 
from  the  37th  parallel,  and  as  to  latitude 
by  independent  astronomical  observa- 
tions. Of  the  astronomical  observations 
made  by  Clark  to  check  this  transfer  no 
use  has  ever  been  made.  This  done, 
Clark  ran  southward  for  156  miles, 
chaining  the  distance,  checking  by  sex- 
tant observations,  and  building  mounds 
or  monuments  to  the  number  of  23.  He 
then  closed  work  for  the  season.  The 
result  of  this  season's  work  of  1859,  so 
far  as  concerns  the  iO3d  meridian,  was 
as  follows  :  Monument  set  at  the  south 
end,  fixed  in  longitude  by  chaining 
about  225  miles  from  Frontera,  on  the 
Rio  Grande,  without  astronomical  check ; 
monument  set  at  north  end,  its  longi- 
tude being  derived  by  transfer  35  miles 
from  the  37th  parallel,  the  longitude  on 
that  parallel  being  based  on  moon  cul- 
minations observed  in  1857  ;  the  run- 
ning of  the  line  northward  from  the 
south  end  24  miles  and  erection  of  two 


432 


THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


monuments ;  the  running  of  the  line 
southward  from  the  north  end  1 56  miles 
and  erection  of  23  monuments,  leaving 
1 30  miles  between  unsurveyed  and  un- 
marked. 

SURVEY  OF  THE  NORTHERN  BOUND- 
ARY 

In  the  following  season  Clark  began 
work  on  the  looth  meridian,  where  it 
crosses  the  Canadian,  and  accepting,  as 
directed,  the  monuments  set  there  by 
Jones  and  Brown  in  1859  to  mark  the 
i  ooth  meridian,  prolonged  the  line  north- 
ward to  latitude  36°  30',  and  there  built 
a  monument  (A)  to  mark  the  northeast 
corner  of  the  panhandle.  To  check  this 
position  he  prolonged  this  icoth  me- 
ridian northward  about  35  miles,  to  the 
37th  parallel,  and  found  that  the  longi- 
tude of  the  northeast  corner  of  Texas  on 
the  i  ooth  meridian,  according  to  Jones 
and  Brown,  was  about  i  ,700  feet  east  of 
the  i  ooth  meridian,  according  to  his 
own  determinations  on  the  37th  paral- 
lel in  1857. 

He  then  ran  west  on  the  parallel  of 
36°  30'  till  forced  to  leave  the  line  for 
water.  Then  he  went  to  the  west  end 
and  surveyed  east  till  he  reached  the 
point  where  the  earlier  work  ended,  thus 
finishing  it.  He  then  disbanded,  re- 
turned to  Washington,  and  proceeded 
to  work  up  the  results,  draw  the  maps, 
and  make  final  report.  The  great  war 
cloud  was  then  hanging  over  Washing- 
ton ;  there  was  great  impatience  to  close 
up  this  work  ;  there  appears  to  have 
been  friction  over  seeming  slowness  in 
finishing  up.  Accordingly  the  work 
was  abruptly  stopped,  unfinished,  in 
January,  1862.  So  it  remained  for  20 
years.  In  January,  1882,  the  Senate 
by  resolution  called  for  Clark's  report. 
The  result  is  a  document  of  309  pages 
of  field-notes,  correspondence,  maps, 
etc.,  which,  while  giving  much  infor- 
mation, leaves  much  to  be  desired. 


DISAPPEARANCE  OK  MONUMENTS  SET 
BY  CLARK 

On  March  3, 1891 ,  Congress  confirmed 
Clark's  survey  of  the  io3d  meridian  and 
of  the  parallels  of  32°  and  36°  30'.  (>/' 
the  26  monuments  set  by  Clatk  on  tin- 
lojd  meridian,  only  (wo  have  bi'cn  ir- 
ported  to  the  General  Land  Office.  These 
are  on  the  banks  of  the  Canadian  River. 
The  surveyors,  Taylor  and  Fuss,  who 
connected  the  public  land  surveys  of 
New  Mexico  with  these  monuments, 
recognized  them  as  boundary  monu- 
ments, but  made  no  determination  of 
their  longitude. 

The  initial  monument  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  Texas  has  been  sought  for 
by  subsequent  surveyors  but  without 
success.  Mr.  John  J.  Major  sought  for 
it  in  1 874,  failed  to  find  it,  and  ' '  reestab- 
lished "  it,  setting  a  new  one,  which 
there  is  excellent  reason  for  believing 
is  more  than  two  miles  westoi  the  Clark 
monument.  Mr.  Richard  O.  Chancy,  in 
1 88 1 ,  set  another  monument  at  the  theo- 
retical northwest  corner  of  Texas,  and 
this  without  finding  either  Clark's  or 
Major's  monument.  Based  upon  these 
and  other  surveys  not  here  mentioned, 
the  Land  Office  has  concluded  that 
Clark's  icyjd  meridian  was  laid  down 
between  2  and  3  miles  west  of  its  true 
position,  and  it  is  so  shown  on  the  Land 
Office  map  of  New  Mexico,  1896.  After 
examining  with  some  care  the  informa- 
tion on  the  subject  now  available,  I  am 
of  opinion  that  this  conclusion  is  not 
sustained  by  the  evidence,  and  that  until 
the  longitude  of  some  monument  set 
by  Clark  has  been  telegraphically  de- 
termined the  boundary  line  should  be 
shown  on  maps  as  coincident  with  the 
io3d  meridian. 

It  is  very  desirable  that  this  boundary 
be  resurveyed,  old  monuments  restored, 
and  additional  ones  erected,  before  the 
discovery  of  oil  or  mineral  shall  provoke 
a  boundary  dispute. 


ICE  CAVES  AND  FROZEN  WELLS 


A  NOTEWORTHY  contribution 
to  an  interesting  topic  appears 
in  the  August  number  of  the 
Monthly  Weather  Review  (issued  Octo- 
ber 31,  1901)  under  the  title  "Ice 
Caves  and  Frozen  Wells  as  Meteorolog- 
ical Phenomena,"  by  H.  H.  Kimball,  of 
the  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau  (vol.  xxix, 
pp.  366-371,  pis.  i-m).  The  paper  is 
partly  a  compilation,  partly  a  record  of 
observations  on  the  widely  known  Bran- 
don well  and  at  other  localities  ;  it  may 
be  regarded  as  a  supplement  to  the  book 
on  Glacieres^  or  Freezing  Caverns,  pub- 
lished in  1900  by  Edwin  Swift  Balch. 
The  well-known  ice  caves,  and  some  not 
so  well  known,  are  described  critically, 
with  due  attention  to  actual  temper- 
atures and  to  seasons  ;  and  a  few  ice 
wells  are  similarly  described.  The  pop- 
ular idea  that  the  ice  accumulates  in 
summer  and  disappears  in  winter  is  re- 
jected in  toto;  and  the  author  concludes: 
' '  It  is  evident  that  ice  caves  and  frozen 
wells  are  but  different  manifestations  of 
the  same  phenomenon.  In  both  cases 
the  cold  air  of  winter  circulates  to  un- 
usual depths  below  the  surface,  and 
freezes  the  small  quantity  of  water  with 
which  it  comes  in  contact.  In  summer 
this  subterranean  circulation  of  the  air 
ceases,  and  heat  finds  its  way  to  the  ice 
only  by  the  slow  process  of  conduction. 
In  consequence,  the  ice  that  accumu- 
lates during  the  winter  and  early  spring 
may  not  entirely  disappear'  during  the 
following  summer,  but  continue  to  ac- 
cumulate for  ages." 

It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  recent 
writers  on  ice  caves  and  frozen  wells 
have  not  extended  observation  to  the 
' '  blowing  caves, "  "  breathing  wells, ' ' 
and  "whistling  wells"  found  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  this  and  other  countries, 
and  sporadically  recorded  in  ephemeral 
literature  ;  for  the  physical  laws  ex- 
emplified in  these  are  alike,  and  pre- 


sumptively connected  with  those  re- 
vealed in  glacieres  and  ice  wells.  The 
fact  is  too  often  overlooked  that  the 
normal  or  ordinary  cavern  is  a  "breath- 
ing cave, ' '  in  that  air  currents  flow  al- 
ternately in  and  out  with  a  degree  of 
regularity  conditioned  by  many  factors, 
among  which  varying  atmospheric  press- 
ure is  the  primary  one.  The  strength 
of  the  ' '  breathing  ' '  depends  on  the 
relative  sizes  of  the  opening  and  of  the 
subterranean  vault  or  chambers;  when 
the  mouth  is  small  and  the  cavern  large, 
the  inspiration  may  be  strong  enough  to 
suck  in  dead  leaves  or  sway  overhanging 
branches,  while  the  expiration  may  suf- 
fice to  send  dry  leaves  high  in  air  or 
blow  off  the  hats  of  incautious  visitors  ; 
though  when  the  aperture  is  large  or 
multiple  and  the  cavern  small,  the  cur- 
rent may  be  barely  perceptible.  The 
regular  breathing  is  diurnal,  lagging 
behind  the  daily  range  of  the  barometer 
by  minutes  or  hours,  according  to  the 
relative  dimensions  of  orifice  and  vault; 
though  the  diurnal  rhythm  is  modified 
and  sometimes  obscured  by  more  gen- 
eral changes  in  atmospheric  pressure, 
and  also  by  temperature  conditions. 
In  cavernous  limestone  regions  where 
winter  snows  lie  deep,  cave-hunting 
boys  soon  learn  to  find  hidden  orifices 
and  to  estimate  the  magnitude  of  the 
caverns  by  the  vapor  columns  emitted 
on  frosty  mornings  after  a  snowfall  fol- 
lowed by  the  customary  drop  in  temper- 
ature, the  steam  columns  sometimes 
rising  hundreds  of  feet  in  a  density  ren- 
dering them  visible  for  miles.  The 
' '  blowing  well ' '  is  the  homologue  of  the 
"  breathing  cavern,"  save  that  the  sub- 
terranean vault  is  replaced  commonly  by 
a  porous  stratum  or  formation,  usually 
coarse  sandstone  or  granular  dolomite; 
though  it  is  possible  that  some  such 
wells  penetrate  or  communicate  with 
open  fissures  or  extended  crevices  in 


434        THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


the  rocks.  There  is  a  region  of  blowing 
wells  in  southeastern  Wisconsin,  where 
the  Calciferous  beds  of  the  Silurian  rest 
on  the  coarse-grained  St.  Peter  sand- 
stone; another  is  reported  in  central 
New  York,  where  impervious  strata 
overlie  the  pervious  Potsdam  sandstone ; 
still  another  occurs  in  England,  where 
it  received  attention  a  few  years  ago  in 
connection  with  water-supply  inquiries; 
while  sporadic  examples  are  by  no  means 
uncommon  elsewhere. 

Now  it  is  evident  that  when  the  ba- 
rometer is  high  in  a  region  of  caves  or 
breathing  wells,  the  subterranean  cham- 
bers or  pervious  beds  will  gradually  fill 
with  the  slightly  compressed  air,  and 
that  the  process  of  filling  will  be  accom- 
panied by  inspiration,  or  in-blowing, 
through  the  open  mouth  ;  it  is  equally 
evident  that  with  the  subsequent  fall  of 
the  barometer  the  imprisoned  air  will 
expand  and  force  itself  outward  through 
the  mouth  of  the  cavern  until  the  press- 
ure within  and  without  is  brought  into 
balance.  Furthermore,  it  is  evident  that 
the  air  expanding  in  the  throat  of  the 
orifice  will  abstract  heat  from  surround^ 
ing  substances,  precisely  as  it  does  in  the 
expansion  chamber  of  an  atmospheric 
ice  machine,  at  a  rate  and  to  an  amount 
varying  with  the  pressure-difference ; 


and  hence  that  (provided  other  condi- 
tions be  favorable)  the  moisture  on  adja- 
cent surfaces  may  be  congealed.  In 
short,  under  favorable  circumstances  the 
breathing  well  or  blowing  cave  may  be- 
come a  natural  ice  machine,  clumsy  and 
inefficient,  indeed,  yet  possibly  making 
up  in  magnitude  for  its  simplicity  and 
the  slightnessof  the  pressure-differences 
within  its  reach.  Of  course  it  would 
seem  at  first  sight  that  in  each  passage 
from  low  pressure  to  high  and  back 
again,  as  in  the  long  run,  the  effects  of 
the  natural  mechanism  would  balance  — 
i.  e. ,  that  the  heat  given  off  in  inspira- 
tion would  equal  the  chill  of  expiration, 
so  that  no  refrigeration  could  ensue  ;  yet 
when  the  seasonal  ranges  of  barometer 
and  thermometer  are  considered,  it 
would  seem  clear  that  the  heating  would 
tend  to  culminate  in  autumn  and  the 
chill  in  spring,  in  such  wise  as  to  sus- 
tain the  widespread  popular  opinion  on 
the  subject — /.  c. ,  that  the  period  of  ice- 
melting  runs  into  winter  and  that  of  ice- 
forming  into  late  spring  and  summer. 
In  any  event  the  discussion  of  glacieres 
and  freezing  wells  cannot  be  regarded 
as  closed  until  the  related  phenomena  of 
blowing  caves  and  breathing  wells  re- 
ceive exhaustive  study. 

W  J  McGEE 


WESTERN   PROGRESS   IN   CHINA 


MINISTER  CONGER  has  for- 
warded the  State  Department 
a  translation  of  the  prelimi- 
nary resolutions  adopted  by  the  recently 
organized  Board  of  National  Administra- 
tion   of   China.     The    purpose   of   the 
Board  is  to  institute  reforms  in  China  of 
a  more  moderate  nature  than  the  sweep- 
ing  reforms   proposed   in   1898   which 
brought  on  the  Boxer  troubles. 

' '  The  things  of  the  West  are  genu- 
ine ;  those  of  the  Chinese,  for  the  most 


part,  are  shams.  The  speech  of  Western 
men  is  reliable  ;  that  of  the  Chinese 
largely  false, ' '  say  the  Board,  and  in  this 
spirit  of  Chinese  modesty  and  humility 
the  resolutions  were  written.  The  fol- 
lowing extracts  are  taken  from  these 
curious  resolutions  to  show  the  nature 
of  progress  thus  far  made  :  * 

' '  The  first  thing  necessary  is  to  mani- 
fest resolution  like  an  upright  pillar  ; 

*The  resolutions  are  published  in  full  in  the 
Consular  Reports  for  October  28  (no.  1173). 


WESTERN    PROGRESS*  IN    CHINA 


435 


then  may  one  accomplish  the  splitting 
of  the  bamboo — i.  e.,  the  difficult  task. 
The  Book  of  History  says  :  '  Hold  fast 
the  golden  mean.'  And  again,  'Only 
with  decision  of  character  can  there  be 
completion  of  a  work.'  These  words 
sum  up  the  case. 

"  In  modifying  the  government,  the 
most  important  things  to  be  considered 
are  two  :  In  the  first  place,  the  old  cus- 
toms were  good,  but,  having  been  in 
operation  a  long  time,  a  great  many 
abuses  and  obstructions  have  grown  up. 
The  administration  of  the  law  should 
be  thoroughly  reformed  and  restored  to 
its  early  condition.  In  the  second  place, 
what  is  lacking  in  the  Chinese  law  should 
be  supplied  by  an  admixture  of  Western 
law,  so  that  in  time  we  may  gradually 
become  wealthy  and  strong. 

"  The  object  of  the  establishment  of 
this  Board  of  Administration  is  to 
promote  the  independence  of  China. 
China's  weakness  is  due  to  her  poverty. 
The  strength  of  foreign  powers  is  due 
to  their  wealth.  Deliverance  from  pov- 
erty, therefore,  is  the  very  beginning  and 
foundation  of  independence.  But  the 
commencement  of  reform  ought  not  by 
any  means  to  wait  upon  the  attainment 
of  wealth.  At  present  China  has  but  a 
slender  thread  of  life — merely  the  loy- 
alty of  her  people  ;  and  at  a  time  when 
bands  of  brigands  are  spread  abroad, 
mutually  deceiving  and  inciting  one  an- 
other, if  the  very  first  thing  done  is  to 
search  the  Empire  for  money,  it  will 
shortly  be  said  that  of  the  thousand 
benefits  promised  and  the  hundred  ills 
from  which  men  are  to  be  delivered, 
not  one  of  the  former  has  been  gained 
nor  one  of  the  latter  removed.  Such  a 
method  is  a  direct  oppression  of  the 
people  and  will  alienate  men's  hearts. 
Though  you  may  have  very  excellent 
plans,  they  will  be  difficult  to  carry  out. 
But  let  us  first  remove  one  or  two  of 
the  abuses  complained  of  throughout 
the  Empire,  and  carry  into  execution 
one  or  two  of  the  things  most  desired, 


and  we  will  cause  the  people  of  the 
whole  Empire  to  know  that  the  reforms 
projected  by  the  court  really  have  in 
view  the  promotion  of  the  prosperity  of 
the  people  and  the  removal  of  the  ills 
from  which  they  suffer.  .  .  . 

' '  In  all  matters  let  there  be  a  purpose  to 
search  out  the  facts,  and  afterwards  every 
edict  issued  will  operate  like  running 
water.  Heretofore,  there  have  been  debts 
to  the  foreign  powers  unpaid ;  now  there 
is  the  pressure  of  the  indemnity,  amount- 
ing to  more  than  20,000,000  taels  per  an- 
num. How  are  we  to  obtain  such  a  sum? 
There  are  but  two  roads  to  wealth — one 
is  to  increase  the  revenues  [literally, 
'open  the  springs'],  and  the  other  is 
to  economize  in  expenditure.  An  in- 
crease of  the  revenues  will  be  either  too 
gradual  to  meet  the  pressing  demand, 
or  it  will  be  a  case  of  '  seeking  money 
and  incurring  odium. '  This,  therefore, 
is  not  so  good  as  practicing  economy  in 
expenditure.  Economy  in  expenditure 
means  nothing  else  than  the  discharge 
of  useless  troops  and  the  saving  of  their 
pay,  the  discharge  of  extra  officials  and 
the  saving  of  their  salaries,  the  aboli- 
tion of  useless  offices  and  factories  and 
the  saving  of  the  money  spent  on  them. 
Pay  for  soldiers,  official  salaries,  and 
other  expenditures  are  all  the  very  flesh 
and  blood  of  the  people  of  the  Em- 
pire. 

"  In  the  south  and  east  certain  prov- 
inces have  begun  the  adoption  of  West- 
ern customs,  and  say  there  is  nothing  to 
fear  or  suspect  in  Western  methods. 
But  the  people  of  the  north  and  west 
are  simple  in  their  habits;  their  eyes 
and  ears  have  had  no  broad  experience, 
and  to  abruptly  order  them  to  change 
their  manners  is  no  wiser  than  the 
sounding  of  a  cymbal  for  a  deaf  man  to 
hear  or  the  endeavor  to  peel  a  water 
nut  with  a  lotus  stem.  In  reforming 
the  customs,  therefore,  it  is  decidedly 
difficult  to  make  a  plan  of  universal 
adaptability  which  may  be  put  in  oper- 
ation among  all  the  people  of  the  whole 


THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


Kmpire.  The  plan  must  be  adjusted  to 
the  character  of  the  locality  and  devel- 
oped according  to  the  circumstances  and 
prosperity  of  the  people.  Moreover,  in 
adopting  Western  methods,  we  must 
remember  that  there  are  differences  in 
Western  forms  of  government  and  in 
Western  industries. 

"If  we  desire  to  obtain  the  material 
benefits  of  their  civilization,  we  must 
first  learn  their  hearts.  The  hearts  of 
Western  men  are  interested  in  the  pub- 
lic welfare,  while  those  of  the  Chinese, 
for  the  most  part,  are  devoted  to  selfish 
concerns.  .  .  .  Thus  naturally  the 
two  races  are  very  unlike,  and  in  en- 
deavoring to  adopt  their  civilization  we 
get  no  more  than  the  outside.  Though 
ten  thousand  men  should  join  together 
in  the  effort  and  labor  through  a  hun- 
dred years,  it  would  be  very  difficult  to 
complete  the  transformation. 

"  From  the  first  year  of  T'ung-chih 
(1862)  down  to  the  present,  there  has 
never  been  a  time  when  we  have  not 
talked  of  foreign  affairs.  Institutions 


and  factories  have  grown  up  like  a  forest, 
and  ships  and  cannon  have  outnumbered 
the  clouds;  yet  in  thirty  years  what 
effective  change  has  been  completed  ? 
The  reason  for  our  failure  is  that  while 
among  Western  people  in  their  under- 
takings a  thousand  men  are  of  OIK-  mind 
to  secure  the  prosperity  of  the  state — 
and  securing  the  prosperity  of  the  state 
benefits  individuals  as  well — among  the 
Chinese,  in  their  affairs,  a  hundred  men 
have  a  hundred  minds,  each  seeking  his 
own  advantage,  and  while  some  profit 
and  others  do  not,  the  state  does  not 
obtain  the  least  benefit.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  shares  are  not  sold  and  that 
corporations  are  dissolved.  In  under- 
takings which  the  foreigner  finds  profit- 
able, the  Chinese,  in  their  endeavors  to 
imitate,  find  nothing  but  losses  to  make 
good.  The  hearts  of  the  Chinese  must 
first  be  rectified,  and  then  they  may  imi- 
tate the  excellent  methods  of  the  West; 
but  to  straighten  the  foundations  and  to 
cleanse  the  fountain,  this  is  not  a  task 
for  one  man." 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


TAHITI 

THROUGH  the  courtesy  of  Mr. 
S.  P.  Langley  the  NATIONAL 
GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE  is  able  to  pub- 
lish this  month  the  diary  of  his  recent 
trip  to  Tahiti.  The  diary  is  published 
as  it  was  written  from  day  to  day,  with- 
out any  alterations,  and  is  an  entertain- 
ing story  of  several  weeks  passed  in  a 
fascinating  part  of  the  globe. 

Tahiti  was  discovered  in  1606  by 
Quiros,  who  named  it  La  Sagittaria. 
One  hundred  and  sixty  one  years  later 
Captain  WTallis  rediscovered  the  island 


and  called  it  after  his  sovereign  King 
George.  The  native  name,  formerly 
spelled  Otaheite,  asserted  itself,  how- 
ever, and  is  now  alone  used.  Tahiti  was 
Captain  Cook's  favorite  center  when  ex- 
ploring the  Pacific.  It  was  on  this  island 
he  observed  the  Transit  of  Venus  on  his 
first  great  voyage  of  exploration  in  the 
Pacific.  English  missionaries  settled  in 
Tahiti  near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  for  some  years  met  with 
considerable  success.  France  declared 
a  protectorate  over  Tahiti  and  the  So- 
ciety Islands  in  1842,  and  in  1880  form- 
ally annexed  the  group. 


GEOGRAPHIC   NOTES 


437 


LITERACY  OF  THE  MEN  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

THE  most  literate  element  of  the 
male  population  of  the  United 
States  is  the  native  white  of  foreign 
born  parents.  Ninety-eight  of  every  100 
men,  2 1  years  of  age  or  over,  who  were 
born  in  this  country  of  white  foreign 
parents  can  read  and  write.  A  less  pro- 
portion of  the  native  white  of  native 
parents  read  and  write — 94.2  per  cent — 
while  not  quite  nine -tenths  of  the  for- 
eign born  men  and  only  a  little  more 


than  half  of  the  colored  men  can  read 
an  addressed  envelope  or  write  a  receipt. 
The  following  diagram  shows  the  read- 
ing and  writing  ability  of  American  men 
of  voting  age  in  each  element.  There 
are  21,329,819  males  of  voting  age  in 
the  United  States.  Of  this  great  army 
of  men  19,003,524  read  and  write  and 
2,326,295  are  capable  of  neither — that 
is,  of  the  total  male  population  who  are 
of  voting  age  in  the  United  States  89 1 
in  every  1,000  are  literate  and  109  are 
illiterate.* 

*  See  Census  Bulletin  no.  106. 


,KX>       90        80         70        60         50        4O         30        2O         10 


Diagram  showing  literacy  of  males  21   years  of  age  and 
over  in  the  different  elements  of  the  population 

The  diagram  also  shows  the  percentages  of  the  different  elements  in 
the  total  male  population  that  is  21  years  of  age  and  over 


43  8         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


Outline  Map  showing  route  of  Trans-Siberian  Railway 


TRANS-SIBERIAN  RAILWAY 

THE  month  of  November  marked 
the  practical  completion  of  the 
Trans-Siberian  Railway.  For  Russia 
and  Siberia  the  road  has  tremendous 
possibilities.  It  means  to  her  vast  Sibe- 
rian territory  the  development  and  pros- 
perity which  the  first  belting  of  the 
American  continent  brought  to  the  West. 
For  Europe,  especially  western  Europe, 
it  means  even  more  perhaps  than  to  Rus- 
sia. The  road  marks  the  inauguration 
of  a  new  route  to  the  Far  East.  The 
Siberian  Railway  will  gradually  sup- 
plant the  Suez  route,  and  make  Russia, 
not  England,  the  mistress  of  the  world 
route  to  the  Far  East.  An  article  that 
appeared  in  this  Magazine  in  September, 
1901,  dwelt  at  length  on  the  construc- 
tion and  meaning  of  this  Trans- Asiatic 
railway.  The  Manchurian  branch  of 
the  railway,  with  map,  was  described  in 
the  August,  1900,  number. 

ICE  IN  SOUTHERN   LATITUDES 

THE  three  expeditions  now  in  South 
Polar  regions  will  this  season 
have  to  contend  against  ice  extending 
more  to  the  northward  than  usual.  Mr. 
James  Page,  of  the  U.  S.  Hydrographic 
Office,  sends  to  this  Magazine  the  follow- 
ing paragraphs  from  the  report  of  Capt. 
John  N.  Start,  in  command  of  S.  S.  Star 


of  Neiv  Zealand,  describing  the  icebergs 
seen  during  a  voyage  from  Bluff,  N.  Z. , 
to  London : 

•  ' '  During  passage  passed  icebergs  as 
follows:  September  6,  1901,  latitude 
53°  24'  S.,  longitude  142°  16'  W.,  passed 
a  very  large  berg  ( over  a  mile  long  and 
over  600  feet  high).  Temperature  of 
air,  37°  ;  water,  41°.  September  7,  on 
the  same  parallel,  between  140°  W.  and 
135°  W.,  passed  77  large  bergs  aiid  nu- 
merous small  ones,  weather  getting  thick 
and  dirty  and  ice  veiy  thick  ;  kept  ship 
off  to  N.  N.  E.  September  8,  latitude 
51°  S. ,  longitude  131°  30'  W. ,  passed  r  i 
large  bergs  and  numerous  small  ones. 
Air,  45°  ;  water,  44.  On  the  parallel 
of  50°  20'  S.  and  between  128°  30'  W. 
and  124°  W.  passed  10  large  bergs  and 
numerous  small  pieces.  Temperature 
of  air,  47°  ;  water,  44°. 

' '  Bergs  were  mostly  of  the  table  form, 
with  sheer  precipitous  sides,  showing 
clearly  each  stratum  of  snow  in  forma- 
tion. In  height  they  ranged  from  370 
feet  to  over  600 feet  (height  determined 
by  sextant  and  distance).  A  number 
seemed  of  irregular  shape,  having  been 
longer  adrift  and  wasted  by  action  of 
seas  and  heat.  From  the  date  last  given 
no  further  ice  was  seen,  the  vessel  mak- 
ing casting  just  north  of  the  average 
ice-line  shown  on  the  chart. 

"September  27,  in  latitude  20°  S., 
longitude  30°  W.,  between  6.30  and  7 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


439 


a.  m. ,  we  passed  through  a  belt  of  whirl- 
winds 5  to  6  miles  wide,  extending  to 
the  horizon  in  either  direction.  Pre- 
vious to  this  the  wind  had  been  blowing 
a  moderately  fresh  breeze,  varying  from 
east  to  S.  E.,  with  rainy,  dirty  weather 
without  any  interval.  The  vessel  passed 
into  the  belt.  The  whirlwinds  were 
simply  in  hundreds  and  quite  close  to 
each  other,  so  that  the  water  was  torn 
up  into  whirls  in  opposite  directions 
every  few  feet,  one  blowing  spray  over 
the  vessel  on  one  side  and  another  on 
the  other  side.  The  vessel  passed  out 
of  the  belt  quite  as  suddenly  into  a  fresh 
breeze  from  N.  N.  W.  and  the  weather 
cleared  up." 

IN  THE  CANADIAN  ROCKIES 

A  SUCCESSFUL  exploratory  trip 
JT\.  was  carried  out  last  summer  in 
the  Canadian  Rockies  by  Messrs.  Henry 
G.  Bryant  and  Walter  D.  Wilcox.  The 
outfit  consisted  of  fourteen  pack  and 
saddle  horses,  two  experienced  packers, 
and  a  cook,  three  tents  and  provisions 
sufficient  to  last  two  months. 

Their  main  purpose  was  to  explore 
and  map  a  portion  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains south  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Rail- 
way, between  the  Kootenai  and  Elk 
Rivers.  This  region  is  part  of  the  main 
chain  of  the  Rockies.  It  is  about  75 
miles  long  and  from  25  to  30  miles  wide, 
and  had  been  hitherto  unexplored,  ex- 
cept for  Captain  Palliser's  rapid  journey 
over  Kananaskis  Pass  many  years  ago. 

The  most  important  results  obtained 
by  Messrs.  Bryant  and  Wilcox  were  the 
exploration  and  mapping  of  the  upper 
part  of  the  Palliser  River  and  of  the 
headwaters  of  several  rivers  flowing  into 
the  Elk,  some  important  data  about  the 
Kananaskis  Lake  region,  and  the  cor- 
rection of  errors  in  regard  to  the  alti- 
tude and  other  details  of  the  Kananaskis 
Pass.  During  the  journey  four  passes 
were  crossed  and  five  large  valleys  ex- 
plored, in  the  course  of  which  a  num- 


ber of  lakes  and  other  interesting  feat- 
ures were  discovered,  mountain  ascents 
made,  and  a  valuable  series  of  photo- 
graphs secured  to  illustrate  the  scenery 
and  methods  of  travel.  A  small  collec- 
tion of  fossils  and  stones  was  made  for 
the  benefit  of  geological  knowledge  of 
the  region ,  and  a  set  of  panoramic  views 
and  roughly  triangulated  points  will 
provide  material  for  a  new  map  of  this 
very  picturesque  and  interesting  part  of 
the  Rockies. 

An  article  by  Mr.  Wilcox,  describing 
the  work  done  and  illustrated  with  maps 
and  photographs,  will  appear  in  an  early 
number  of  this  Magazine. 

The  Population  of  the  Argentine  Re- 
public now  amounts  to  4,800,000,  of 
whom  more  than  one-fourth,  or  1,250, 
ooo,  are  foreigners.  Four-fifths  of  the 
foreigners  are  from  the  Latin  countries — 
Italy,  Spain,  and  France.  Buenos 
Aires,  with  a  population  of  829,891, 
ranks  as  the  first  city  in  the  southern 
hemisphere  and  is  the  second  city  of 
Latin  races  in  the  world.  A  recent 
estimate  gives  the  following  figures  : 

Italians 635,000 

Spanish 250,000 

French I  i$,ooo 

Orientals 60,000 

Brazilians    15.000 

English 28,000 

Chileans 26,000 

Germans 22,000 

Russians 20,000 

Swedes 20,000 

Others . .  59.000 

Total  foreigners 1,250,000 

Total  natives 3.550.000 

Grand  total 4,800,000 

Draining  of  the  Zuider  Zee.— United 
States  Consul  Hill,  at  Amsterdam,  re- 
ports that  the  project  for  draining  the 
Zuider  Zee  has  been  withdrawn  indefi- 
nitely from  the  States- General  by  the 
new  ministry.  The  condition  of  the 
Dutch  budget  is  so  low  that  it  could  not 
furnish  the  funds  for  such  an  expensive 


44°         THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


work.  Furthermore,  the  price  of  land 
in  the  kingdom  has  fallen,  making  new 
agricultural  holdings  undesirable. 

Hon.  Seth  Low  has  resigned  the  presi- 
dency of  the  American  Geographical 
Society  of  New  York  city.  Mr.  Low 
was  elected  president  to  succeed  the  late 
Judge  Daly. 

It  is  announced  in  the  Geographical 
Journal  that  a  magnetic  survey  of  India 
is  to  be  made  by  the  Indian  Govern- 
ment. In  addition  to  the  observatories 
at  Bombay  and  Calcutta,  others  are  to 
be  built  at  Dehia  Dun,  Kodaikanal,  and 
Rangoon.  The  work  is  to  be  directed 
by  the  Survey  and  Meteorological  De- 
partments jointly. 

Colonial  Administration  is  the  title  of 
a  special  report  by  Hon.  O.  P.  Austin, 
Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the 
Treasury  Department,  now  in  press  and 
soon  ready  for  distribution.  Mr.  Austin 
passed  the  earlier  months  of  1901  in  the 
capitals  of  Europe  studying  the  colonial 
departments  of  the  European  govern- 
ments, and  this  important  volume  is  the 
result  of  his  researches  and  observations. 

Not  one  case  of  yellow  fever  occurred 
in  Habana  during  the  month  of  Octo- 
ber, the  month  during  which  the  fever 
is  most  prevalent  in  Cuba.  In  October, 
1900,  there  were  308  cases,  of  which  74 
died.  This  remarkable  change  is  the 
result  of  an  untiring  war  on  the  mos- 
quito, waged  by  the  sanitary  officers  of 
Habana.  Major  Gorgas,  chief  medical 
officer  of  Habana,  reports  that  no  at- 
tempt was  made  to  disinfect  clothing  or 
to  enforce  quarantine  against  the  neigh- 
boring towns  where  yellow  fever  was 
active.  Their  only  aim  was  to  kill  the 
mosquitoes  that  had  bitten  a  sick  per- 
son, and  to  prevent  any  more  mosquitoes 
from  biting  after  the  case  was  discov- 
ered. There  is  today  an  immune  pop- 
ulation of  about  40,000  persons  in  Ha- 
bana, which  yellow  fever  has  ravaged 
for  150  years. 


A  Map  of  the  territory  of  the  Amazon 
has  been  prepared  and  published  by 
Ermanno  Stradelli.  It  is  based  princi- 
pally on  his  own  extended  explorations 
in  west  central  Brazil,  east  of  Peru  and 
Bolivia.  Mr.  Stradelli's  work  in  this 
region  has  been  very  important,  as  he 
has  ascertained  the  course  of  several 
large  southern  tributaries  to  the  Ama- 
zon, and  shown  that  their  career  is 
quite  different  from  that  hitherto  given 
on  South  American  maps.  Mr.  Stra- 
delli's map  is  on  the  scale  of  about  32 
miles  to  the  inch. 

The  reciprocity  treaties  and  agreements 
between  the  United  States  and  foreign 
countries  since  1850  is  the  subject  of  a 
very  timely  report  issued  by  Hon.  O.  P. 
Austin,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics 
of  the  Treasury  Department.  The  text 
of  these  treaties  is  given  in  full,  and  also 
the  text  of  such  treaties  as  have  been 
negotiated  and  are  awaiting  action.  The 
agreements  awaiting  ratification  by  the 
United  States  Senate  are  conventions 
with  Argentina,  the  French  Republic, 
Bermuda,  Jamaica,  British  Guiana,  and 
Barbados.  This  valuable  bulletin  may 
be  obtained  by  application  to  the  Bureau 
of  Statistics. 

The  effects  of  the  drought  of  July,  1901, 
upon  the  trade,  industry,  and  commerce 
of  the  United  States  are  admirably  de- 
scribed by  Dr.  R.  DeC.  Ward.of  Harvard 
University,  in  an  article  in  the  Bulletin 
of  the  American  Geographical  Society. 
One  striking  instance  of  the  effect  of  the 
drought  may  be  cited.  The  withering 
of  the  pasturage  in  the  southwest  com- 
pelled the  stockmen  to  ship  thousands 
of  cattle  to  the  markets  weeks  before 
they  had  planned.  At  Kansas  City 
alone,  during  the  month  of  July,  1901, 
263,000  more  head  of  cattle  were  re- 
ceived than  in  July  of  the  preceding 
year.  As  a  result  the  market  was  so 
overstocked  that  the  buyers  dictated 
prices. 


GEOGRAPHIC    NOTES 


44 


Naturalized  Foreigners  in  the  United 
States. — Nearly  two-thirds  of  the  for- 
eign born  males  of  voting  age  in  the 
United  States  are  naturalized  or  have 
filed  their  first  naturalization  papers. 
There  are  about  five  million  foreign 
born  men  (5,006,483)  who  are  21  years 
or  over  in  the  United  States  proper. 
Of  these,  2,848,324  are  naturalized, 
412,513  have  taken  out  their  first  nat- 
uralization papers,  i  ,001 , 1 24  have  made 
no  application  to  become  American  cit- 
izens, and  the  condition  of  744,522  is 
unknown — that  is,  of  every  1,000  for- 
eign born  males  of  voting  age  569  are 
American  citizens,  82  have  taken  steps 
to  become  American  citizens,  200  are 
still  aliens,  and  the  condition  of  149  is 
unknown. 

The  British  Government  has  made  ar- 
rangements to  send  its  mail  for  Australia 
and  New  Zealand  via  the  United  States 
instead  of  by  the  present  route  down  the 
Suez  Canal,  the  Red  Sea,  and  across  the 
Indian  Ocean.  This  announcement  is 
made  by  George  H.  Daniels,  general 
passenger  agent  of  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral. A  fast  steamer  will  convey  the 
mail  to  New  York,  where  it  will  be 
placed  on  a  Pacific  Coast  express  and 
connect  with  the  Oceanic  Steamship 
Company  vessels  at  San  Francisco.  On 
an  average,  six  or  seven  days  will  be 
saved  in  the  passage  to  Australia. 
Doubtless  Europeans  bound  for  Aus- 
tralia will  soon  follow  the  mail.  The 
time  gained  is  a  small  advantage  to  the 
traveler  compared  to  the  comfort  of 
passing  the  entire  trip  in  a  cool  climate 
instead  of  sweltering  on  a  slow  steamer 
on  the  Red  Sea  and  Indian  Ocean. 

The  completed  report  of  the  Isthmian 
Canal  Commission  differs  but  slightly 
from  the  preliminary  report  of  the  Com- 
mission, an  abstract  of  which,  with  map, 
appeared  in  the  January,  1901,  number 
of  this  Magazine.  The  Commission,  as 
before,  favor  the  Nicaragua  route,  esti- 


mating that  the  canal  by  this  route  would 
cost  $63,500,000  less  than  the  sum  for 
which  the  Panama  property  can  be  pur- 
chased and  the  canal  completed.  The 
final  surveys  have  shortened  the  pro- 
posed Nicaragua  route  three  miles,  and 
have  enabled  the  Commission  to  plan  for 
eight  locks  instead  of  nine.  The  entire 
distance  is  now  183.66  miles,  of  which 
73.78  miles  are  of  the  canal  proper,  and 
the  remainder  lake  and  river.  The  total 
cost  is  estimated  at  $189,000,000,  which 
is  $i  i  ,000,000  less  than  the  amount  pre- 
viously reported.  This  large  sum  saved 
is  because  the  engineers  have  discovered 
a  better  site  for  the  gigantic  dam  that 
must  be  built  to  regulate  the  level  of 
Lake  Nicaragua. 

Territorial  Expansion  of  the  United 
States. — The  additions  made  to  the  thir- 
teen original  colonies  and  the  transfor- 
mation of  this  territory  into  separate 
territories  and  states  is  admirably  de- 
scribed in  a  recent  useful  report  by 
Hon.  O.  P.  Austin.  Mr.  Austin  has 
shown  the  different  changes  in  state  and 
territorial  boundaries  by  a  series  of  dia- 
grams. For  instance,  diagram  No.  7, 
1803,  presents  the  Louisiana  Purchase 
as  one  province  ;  No.  8,  1804,  shows  the 
province  divided  into  the  Louisiana  Dis- 
trict and  the  Territory  of  Orleans;  No. 
10,  1810,  shows  the  Orleans  Territory 
admitted  as  the  State  of  Louisiana,  and 
the  Louisiana  Territory  changed  in 
name  to  the  Territory  of  Missouri.  The 
successive  breaking  up  of  the  Territory 
of  Missouri  into  the  Territory  of  Ar- 
kansas and  the  State  of  Missouri,  and 
all  following  changes  are  graphically 
shown.  The  diagrams  form  a  series  of 
moving  pictures  of  the  rapid  changes  in 
the  boundaries  of  our  fifty  odd  states, 
territories,  and  possessions. 

The  Military  Information  Division  of 
the  War  Department  will  publish  within 
a  few  weeks  a  comprehensive  report  on 
the  colonial  armies  of  the  great  powers. 


GEOGRAPHIC   LITERATURE 


*Alaska:   Volume    I,  Narrative,  Gla- 
ciers, Natives.     By  John  Burroughs, 
John  Muir,  and  George  Bird  Grin- 
nell.     Volume  II,  History,  Geogra- 
phy,   Resources.     By     William     H. 
Ball,  Charles  Keeler,  Henry  Gannett, 
William  H.  Brewer,  C.  Hart  Merriam, 
George  BirdGrinnell,  and  M.  L.  Wash- 
burn.    New  York:  Doubleday,   Page 
&  Company.  1901.  [Superimprinted] 
Harriman   Alaska  Expedition,   with 
the  cooperation  of  the  Washington 
Academy  of  Sciences.      [Edited  by 
Dr.  C.  Hart  Merriam.]     With  39  col- 
ored plates,  85  photogravure  plates, 
5  maps,  and   240  text  figures.     Pp. 
xxxvii,  383.     $15-00 
One  of  the  handsomest  pieces  of  book- 
making  ever  produced  has  recently  ap- 
peared in  the  form  of  a  report  on  the 
Harriman  Alaska  Expedition.    The  two 
sumptuous  volumes  are  models  in  such 
matters  as  typography,  paper,  binding, 
and  the  like  ;  they  are  unique,  at  least 
so  far  as  solid  scientific  literature  is  con- 
cerned, in  certain  matters  of  execution, 
such  as  the  neat  loose  covers  matching 
the  permanent  binding  ;  the  numerous 
color-plates  touch  a  new  apex  in  the 
triangular  ideals  of  fidelity  to  nature, 
strength  of  expression,  and  refinement 
in  line  and  tone  ;  the  photogravures  are 
unexcelled  examples  of  that  mode  of  pic- 
turing which  was  last  century's  richest 
gift  to  art,  while  the  text  cuts  are  at 
once   germane,    graphic,    and    artistic. 
The  first  impression  produced  by  the 
book  is  that  it  is  a  thing  of  beauty. 

The  body  of  the  work  begins  with 
John  Burroughs'  narrative  of  the  expe- 
dition. It  is  a  novel  chapter  in  the  his- 
tory of  expeditionary  enterprise.  The 
family  would  go  a-touring  ;  the  head 

*  "The  General  Geography  of  Alaska,"  by 
Henry  Gannett,  one  chapter  in  this  remark- 
able work,  was  published  in  full  in  the  May, 
1901,  number  of  this  Magazine. 


thereof  would  have  the  tour  instructive  ; 
so  the  family  was  temporarily  enlarged 
to  a  ship-load  of  congenial  folk,  includ- 
ing a  "  scientific  party  "of  25  eminent 
savants  who  were  to  breathe  out  the  in- 
struction. Then,  to  tempt  the  grave 
and  reverend  seigniors,  as  well  as  to  give 
zest  to  the  lessons,  provision  was  made 
for  research  along  new  lines — for  act- 
ually augmenting  the  sum  of  human 
knowledge — and  a  corps  of  artists,  pho- 
tographers, stenographers,  and  doctors 
was  added,  together  with  officers  and 
crew  of  the  good  ship  George  W.  Elder. 
The  full  outfit  aggregated  126  persons, 
with  such  facilities  and  supplies  that 
when  all  was  done  (with  the  milch  cow 
left  over)  and  the  party  debarked,  the 
faithful  poet-scribe  jotted  the  feeling 
that  all  ' '  had  traveled  far  and  fared 
well"  ere  he  dropped  his  pen.  Yet, 
before  reaching  this  mild  benediction, 
he  drew  one  of  the  most  telling  word 
pictures  of  geographic  journeying  ever 
done  in  this  land  of  magnificent  dis- 
tances. The  enthusiastic  glacialist, 
John  Muir,  follows  Burroughs  with  a 
memoir  on  "Pacific  Coast  Glaciers," 
and  the  versatile  editor  of  Forest  and 
Stream,  Dr.  George  Bird  Grinnell,  de- 
scribes the  ' '  Natives  of  the  Alaska  Coast 
Region."  Both  of  these  contributions 
represent  the  results  of  previous  re- 
searches, as  well  as  those  of  observa- 
tions made  during  the  expedition  ;  and 
the  legion  of  new-found  and  newly 
christened  glaciers  receive  special  atten- 
tion. The  second  volume  opens  with  a 
succinct  account  of  discover}'  and  explo- 
ration in  the  territory  by  the  veteran 
Alaskan,  Dr.  W.  H.  Ball  ;  Dr.  Charles 
Keeler  describes  the  birds,  and  Prof. 
Bernard  E.  Fernow  discusses  the  forests; 
Henry  Gannett  follows  with  a  summary 
of  Alaskan  geography,  already  printed 
in  this  Magazine,  while  Prof  .William  H. 
Brewer  discusses  the  peculiar  atmos- 


GEOGRAPHIC    LITERATURE 


443 


pheric  effects  of  Alaska  ;  Dr.  Merriam 
describes  "  Bogoslof,  our  newest  Vol- 
cano," and  Dr.  Grinnell  and  M.  L,. 
Washburn.  respectively,  summarize  the 
salmon  industry  and  the  fox  farming  of 
our  remote  commonwealth —  and  more 
strictly  literary  features  attest  the  in- 
spiration of  a  trip  in  which  the  prosaic 
and  the  poetic  were  so  happily  blent. 
Naturally,  in  view  of  the  eminent  au- 
thorship, the  several  chapters  are  notably 
authentic  and  trustworthy  ;  and  the 
whole  must  long  serve  as  the  standard 
source  of  general  information  concern- 
ing the  vast  territory  just  entering  on 
a  promising  career  of  industrial,  com- 
mercial, and  social  development.  Nor 
are  these  two  volumes  all  ;  for  addi- 
tional chapters,  prepared  through  the 
cooperation  of  the  Washington  Academy 
of  Sciences,  are  to  follow  so  soon  as  the 
material  is  elaborated 

The  work  is  a  notable  one  in  plan  and 
scope,  and  in  the  combination  of  utility 
and  beauty  displayed  by  the  volumes — 
indeed,  such  are  its  excellencies  that 
the  chief  imperfections  readily  detected 
are  merely  (i)  insufficient  recognition 
of  the  editorial  labors,  and  (2)  the  ab- 
sence of  a  trenchant  title — for,  despite 
an  acceptable  title-page  caption  the  full 
titles  are  unlike,  and  the  name  on  the 
back  is  that  of  the  expedition  and  not 
that  of  the  book. 

W  J  M. 

'Twixt  Swdan  and  Menelik.     By  Capt. 
M.    S.  Wellby,  with  many   illustra- 
tions and   two   maps.     New    York  : 
Harper  &  Bros.      1901. 
There  is  an  art  of  travel  in  wild  coun- 
tries ;  an  art  made  up  of  all  sorts  of 
applied  knowledge — physiology,  medi- 
cine,  engineering,    cooking,    shooting, 
and  human  sympathy.     Of  this  art  Cap- 
tain Wellby  was  a  master,  and  a  greater 
master,  I  think,  than  would  be  suggested 
by  his  book,  save  to  those  who  have  had 
some   experience   similar   to  his  own. 
There  is  no  systematic  attempt  to  teach 


his  art,  nor  is  there  indeed  any  system- 
atic presentation  of  the  results  of  a 
very  notable  journey  through  unknown 
regions.  The  author  explains  that  prep- 
aration for  service  in  South  Africa 
followed  fast  upon  his  return  from  the 
Sudan.  There  was  thus  but  little  time 
for  the  sifting  and  arrangement  of  the 
very  large  mass  of  material  which  must 
have  been  obtained  by  a  traveler  of  such 
experience  and  intelligence. 

Yet  all  who  are  interested  in  African 
exploration  must  rejoice  that  fate  per- 
mitted the  making  of  this  straightfor- 
ward story  before  carrying  its  author 
to  an  heroic  death  on  the  veldt.  In  the 
book  one  finds  something  of  that  over- 
supply  of  detail  which  mars  nine-tenths 
of  all  the  books  of  travel.  Yet  happily 
Captain  Wellby  had  an  instinctive  elect- 
ive faculty  which  gives  to  the  greater 
part  of  even  the  trivial  recitals  a  value 
either  for  the  stay-at-home  or  for  other 
wanderers.  Indeed,  for  the  traveler, 
some  hints  may  be  taken  from  almost 
every  page.  And  the  chief  lesson  is 
perhaps  this  :  that  kindness  of  heart 
and  sweet  charity  are  not  thrown  away 
when  shown  toward  black  Africans. 
Nay,  not  more  than  if  shown  to  your 
own  friends.  A  less  sympathetic  man, 
a  man  less  truly  brave  than  Captain 
Wellby,  might  have  recounted  more  of. 
startling  adventure  and  less  of  instruc- 
tion. 

The  most  valuable  portion  of  the  book 
is,  of  course,  that  dealing  with  the  jour- 
ney from  Addis  Abeba  to  the  White 
Nile,  since  the  route  from  Zeila  to  Addis 
Abeba  is  already  well  known.  Captain 
Wellby 's  narrative  has  much  importance 
as  bearing  upon  the  country  and  peoples 
met  as  one  travels  south  west  \\ardly  from 
Menelik's  capital.  Intertribal  feuds  and 
Abyssinian  raids  may  seriously  change 
the  locus,  the  numbers,  even  the  views, 
of  several  small  tribes  whose  present  hab- 
itat had  never,  before  Captain  Wellby 's 
appearance, known  the  white  man's  pres- 
ence. This  first  record  is  therefore  of  spe- 


444         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


cial  importance  to  the  student  of  primi- 
tive man.  A  suggestion  of  the  varied  ex- 
periences met  with  in  the  journey  through 
the  Lake  Rudolf  (or  Gallop)  region  and 
the  country  lying  to  the  west  of  the 
lake  is  had  in  reading  the  list  of  the 
names  of  tribes,  many  of  them  unknown, 
none  of  them  well  known.  Thus,  Arusi 
Galla,  Walamo,  Alibori,  Wangobeino, 
Gallopa,Lokub,Turkana,  Loka,  Abbas, 
Tamata,  Boma,  Morelli,  Shillaks,  and 
Dinkas.  Of  these  the  Walamo  are  note- 
worthy for  their  alleged  and  widely  cred- 
ited power  of  bewitching  with  devils. 
The  Turkana  are  remarkable  for  their 
great  size.  Captain  Wellby  puts  a  higher 
estimate  than  most  travelers  upon  the 
capacity  of  the  Abyssinian  character  in 
respect  to  the  higher  emotions — friend- 
ship, charity,  generosity — the  very  qual- 
ities which  would  be  most  readily  de- 
veloped by  his  own  lovable  nature.  One 
is  permitted  to  doubt  the  author's  pre- 
diction that  most  of  their  present  defects 
will  be  largely  cured  by  intercourse  with 
Europeans.  In  using  well-established 
native  names  of  lakes  and  rivers,  rather 
than  those  proper  names  of  European 
travelers  assigned  for  glory's  sake,  Cap- 
tain Wellby  administers  a  reproof  to 
vanity.  The  general  reader  of  this  im- 
portant book  will  inevitably  feel  a  sym- 
pathetic interest  in  its  author.  The 
graceful  introduction  and  epilogue, writ- 
ten respectively  by  his  friends  Colonel 
Harrington  and  Sir  Rennel  Rodd,  will 
pleasantly  gratify  this  interest.  Many 
good  photographs  and  two  maps  add  to 
the  value  of  the  text. 

OSCAR  T.  CROSBY. 

A'nimals  of  the  Past.     By  F.  A.  Lucas. 
With  many  illustrations.     New  York : 
McClure,  Phillips  &  Co.     $2.00. 
Mr.  Lucas  has  given  the  public  a  book 
that  has  long  been  needed,  an  authori- 
tative but  simply  written  account  of  the 
strange   animals   of    past   ages.     In   a 
chapter  on  the  ' '  Rulers  of  the  ancient 
seas,"  the  author  sketches  the  succes- 


sive races  of  creatures  who  ruled  the 
oceans  long  before  the  advent  of  man. 
' '  For  a  time  the  armor-clad  fishes  held 
undisputed  sway;  then  their  reign  was 
ended  by  the  coming  of  the  sharks,  who 
in  their  turn  gave  way  to  the  fish-lizards, 
the  Ichthyosaurs  and  Plesiosaurs. " 
Then  came  great  marine  reptiles,  who 
extended  their  empire  from  New  Zea- 
land to  North  America,  the  Mosasaurs. 
These  maintained  their  headquarters  in 
the  oceans  that  rolled  over  western 
Kansas.  As  this  great  plain  in  the 
course  of  hundreds  of  centuries  was 
gradually  lifted,  they  were  imprisoned, 
the  weaker  captured  by  the  stronger, 
and  in  time  even  the  latter  were  stran- 
gled by  the  freshening  of  the  water  or 
starved  by  the  disappearance  of  their 
food  supply.  Then  sharks  came  into 
power  again,  small  sharks  with  little 
teeth  and  great  sharks  with  gaping  jaws 
six  feet  across  and  inside  hundreds  of 
gleaming  teeth,  three,  four,  and  five 
inches  long.  These  enormous  sharks 
swarmed  everywhere  that  the  water 
was  warm,  and  then  they  disappeared 
utterly.  Chapter  headings  of  the  volume 
are  as  follows:  "  Fossils  and  how  they 
are  formed,"  "  The  earliest  known  ver- 
tebrates," "Impressions  of  the  past," 
' '  Rulers  of  the  ancient  seas, "  "  Birds 
of  old,"  "The  Dinosaurs,"  "Reading 
the  riddles  of  the  rocks, "  "  Feathered 
giants,"  "  The  ancestry  of  the  horse," 
"The  mammoth,"  "The  mastodon," 
' '  Why  do  animals  become  extinct  ?  ' ' 

Our  National  Parks.     By  John  Muir. 
With  illustrations.  New  York:  Hough- 
ton,  Mifflin  &  Co.     $1.75. 
The  magnificence  of  scenery  of  the 
western  United  States  and  what  is  being 
done  to  preserve  it  by  reservations  like 
the  Yosemite  and  Yellowstone  National 
Parks  is  the  theme  of  this  volume.     Mr. 
Muir  says  his  aim  in  writing  the  series 
of  sketches  has  been  to  incite  people 
"  to  come  and  enjoy  them  [the  national 
parks]   and  get  them  into  their  hearts, 


GEOGRAPHIC    LITERATURE 


445 


that  so  at  length  their  preservation  and 
right  use  might  be  made  sure."  The 
following  paragraph,  quoted  from  Mr. 
Muir,  describes  the  rapid  change  that 
has  taken  place  by  the  hand  of  man  : 

"Only  thirty  years  ago,  the  great 
Central  Valley  of  California,  five  hun- 
dred miles  long  and  fifty  miles  wide, 
was  one  bed  of  golden  and  purple 
flowers.  Now  it  is  ploughed  and  pas- 
tured out  of  existence,  gone  forever,— 
scarce  a  memory  of  it  left  in  fence  cor- 
ners and  along  the  bluffs  of  the  streams. 
The  gardens  of  the  Sierra,  also,  and  the 
noble  forests  in  both  the  reserved  and 
unreserved  portions  are  sadly  hacked 
and  trampled,  notwithstanding  the  rug- 
gedness  of  the  topography, — all  except- 
ing those  of  the  parks  guarded  by  a  few 
soldiers.  In  the  noblest  forests  of  the 
world,  the  ground,  once  divinely  beauti- 
ful, is  desolate  and  repulsive,  like  a  face 
ravaged  by  disease.  This  is  true  also 
of  many  other  Pacific  Coast  and  Rocky 
Mountain  valleys  and  forests.  The  same 
fate,  sooner  or  later,  is  awaiting  them  all , 
unless  awakening  public  opinion  comes 
forward  to  stop  it.  Even  the  great 
deserts  in  Arizona,  Nevada,  Utah,  and 
New  Mexico,  which  offer  so  little  to 
attract  settlers,  and  which  a  few  years 
ago  pioneers  were  afraid  of,  as  places  of 
desolation  and  death,  are  now  taken  as 
pastures  at  the  rate  of  one  or  two  square 
miles  per  cow,  and  of  course  their  plant 
treasures  are  passing  away, — the  deli- 
cate abronias,  phloxes,  gilias,  etc. 
Only  a  few  of  the  bitter,  thorny,  un- 
bitable  shrubs  are  left,  and  the  sturdy 
cactuses  that  defend  themselves  with 
bayonets  and  spears. ' ' 

Commercial  Geography.     By  Cyrus  C. 

Adams     With  illustrations  and  maps. 

New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

In  breadth  of  treatment  and  system- 
atic plan  this  book  is  equaled  by  no 
commercial  geography  yet  published. 
Mr.  Adams  is  an  eminent  expert  on  the 
editorial  staff  of  the  New  York  Sun 


and  has  spent  many  years  studying  the 
problems  of  commercial  geography.  He 
has  successfully  aimed  in  the  present 
volume  to  keep  constantly  before  the 
reader  the  geographic  influences  affect- 
ing commerce.  Very  few  statistics  are 
given,  their  place  being  taken  by  dia- 
grams and  charts.  Instead  of  grouping 
the  different  products  under  the  tra- 
ditional heads  of  animal,  vegetable,  and 
mineral  commodities,  Mr.  Adams  has 
treated  each  product  in  connection  with 
that  country  in  whose  commerce  it  is 
most  prominent.  For  instance,  cotton 
is  discussed  under  the  United  States, 
which  produces  three- fourths  of  the 
raw  cotton  of  the  world. 

The  book  is  written  in  a  simple  and 
entertaining  style  that  commends  it  to 
every  one.  The  volume  is  especially 
fortunate  at  the  present  time,  when  the 
people  of  the  United  States  are  thinking 
about  and  studying  the  problems  of 
commerce  as  perhaps  they  have  never 
done  before.  One  who  wishes  to  re- 
fresh his  mind  as  to  what  the  different 
nations  have  to  offer  each  other  could 
not  do  better  than  read  Mr.  Adams' 
"Commercial  Geography."  The  one 
criticism  that  might  be  offered  of  this 
scholarly  work  is  that  the  value  of  the 
book  suffers  because  it  contains  no  refer- 
ences of  places  where  the  general  reader 
may  look  for  further  information.  A 
brief  bibliography  would  add  immensely 
to  the  convenience  of  the  book. 

Seen  in  Germany.     By  Ray  Stannard 
Baker.       With    illustrations.       New 
York:  McClure,  Phillips  &  Co.     $2. 
This  is  an  interesting  sketch  of  Ger- 
man life  among  all  classes.     A  chapter 
gives  an  account  of  the  German  \vork- 
ingman — of  his  daily  life,  his  wife,  his 
food,   his  problems,   and   his   relations 
with    his   government.      The   German 
workingman    is   supposed    to  work    1 1 
hours  a  day  and  often  longer,  and  for  his 
long  day  receives  from  one-third  to  one- 
half  the  wages  of  an  American,  work- 


446         THE   NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   MAGAZINE 


ing  only  eight  hours  of  the  twenty-four. 
Mr.  Baker  states  that  wages  have  risen 
nearly  33  per  cent  in  the  last  fifteen 
years,  but  this  gain  has  been  outbal- 
anced by  doubling  in  cost  of  food.  He 
makes  the  startling  statement  that  the 
staples  of  food  actually  cost  the  German 
more  than  they  do  the  American  ;  so 
that  he  never  thinks  of  buying  butter, 
milk,  eggs,  or  white  flour,  which  the 
American  would  consider  absolute  nec- 
essaries. The  government  keeps  a  fa- 
therly eye  over  the  workingman,  sees 
that  his  bread  is  rightly  made,  and  that 
he  makes  provision  for  his  old  age.  The 
result  of  this  paternal  care,  in  Mr. 
Baker's  judgment,  is  greater  efficiency 
in  work,  but  not  in  the  mental  develop- 
ment of  the  workman. 

The  New  Basis  of  Geography.  By 
Jacques  W.  Red  way.  New  York: 
The  Macmillan  Co. 
This  volume,  written  by  a  well-known 
writer  and  lecturer  on  geographic  sub- 
jects, is  designed  to  give  teachers  a 
broad  interpretation  of  geography,  more 
particularly  of  the  ' '  relations  between 
human  activities  and  geographic  envi- 
ronment." It  emphasizes  the  fact  that 
"man  and  nature,  man  in  nature,  not 
man  alone,  or  nature  alone,  are  the  true 
subjects  of  interest  and  of  study  in 
geography."  It  is  a  very  suggestive 
and  stimulating  book,  and  is  unhesitat- 
ingly recommended  to  all  students  of 
geography. 

Armenia — Travels    and    Studies.      By 
H.  F.  B.  Lynch.     Two  vols.     With 
many  colored  illustrations  and  maps. 
Longmans,  Green  &  Co.     $15. 
Mr.  Lynch  describes  two  journeys  in 
Armenia,  the  first  extending  from  Au- 
gust,   1893,    to   March,    1894,   and  the 
second  from  May  to  September,  1898. 
The  first  volume  deals  writh  the  Russian 
provinces,  the  second  with  the  Turkish. 
Mr.   Lynch    describes   the   commercial 
prosperity    and   the   obedience   to   law 


which  has  been  the  result  of  the  Rus- 
sian rule.  Erivan  is  an  instance  of  a 
small  and  sleepy  town  springing  into  a 
prosperous  commercial  center  under 
Russian  occupation.  Unfortunately, 
however,  says  Mr.  Lynch,  the  Russian 
Government  has  not  confined  its  ener- 
gies to  maintaining  public  order,  but 
has  sought  to  regulate  the  Armenian 
schools,  and  has  thus  almost  stifled  edu- 
cation. ' '  The  result  is  the  Armenian 
must  sink  his  individuality  and  resign 
his  initiative  into  Russian  hands."  In 
the  Turkish  provinces  conditions  are 
very  bad  ;  the  Armenian  is  badgered 
and  tortured  by  the  Kurd,  and  neither 
his  life,  house,  or  shop  is  safe. 

The  volumes  present  an  immense 
amount  of  information — geographical, 
political,  and  historical  The  numerous 
maps  and  illustrations  are  beautifully 
engraved.  An  exhaustive  bibliography 
and  comprehensive  index  complete  this 
valuable  work. 

The  Insect  Book.  By  Dr.  L.  O.  How- 
ard. With  many  illustrations.  New 
York  :  Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.  $3. 
The  Insect  Book  will  be  prized  by  the 
amateur  wrho  in  spare  moments  takes  de- 
light in  making  collections  and  in  study- 
ing insect  life.  Dr.  Howard  has  aimed 
' '  to  encourage  the  study  of  life  histories 
of  insects,"  and,  wherever  possible, 
gives  a  typical  life  history  of  each  fam- 
ily. He  tells  not  only  what  is  known, 
but  also  what  is  not  known,  but  which 
can  be  more  or  less  easily  found  out. 
The  book  is  handsomely  illustrated  from 
photographs  of  insects. 

Europe  and  the  Other  Continents.     By 

R.  S.  Tarr  and  F.  N.  McMurry.    New 

York:  The  Macmillan  Co.    $0.75. 

Professors   Tarr   and    McMurry   are 

experienced  and  successful  teachers  of 

geography,  and  are  thus  able  to  write  a 

geographic    text-book    containing   the 

most  important  facts  that  a  pupil  should 

learn.     A  special  feature  of  the  volume 


GEOGRAPHIC   LITERATURE 


447 


are  435  colored  maps,  diagrams,  and 
charts  that  present  in  graphic  and  terse 
form  much  information  for  which  there 
would  otherwise  be  no  space.  This  is 
the  third  volume  in  the  series  of  Tarr 
and  McMurry's  Geographies. 

The  Great  Deserts  and  Forests  of  North 
America*    By  Paul  Fountain.     Long- 
mans, Green  &  Co.     $3.75. 
The  volume  consists  of  a  series  of 
rambling  but  entertaining  notes  of  the 
author's  travels  in  the  western  United 
States,  for   the  most  part   made   some 
thirty  years  ago.     The  title  is  mislead- 
ing, for  the  book  is  in  no  sense  descrip- 
tive of  what  its  name  implies. 

Australia — The    Commonwealth     and 

New  Zealand,     By  Arthur  W.  Jose. 

New    York :     The    Macmillan     Co. 

$0.40. 

The  author  lived  for  seventeen  years 
in  the  four  colonies  of  eastern  Australia, 
and  speaks  with  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  his  subject.  In  this  little  volume  of 
150  pages  he  gives  a  summary  of  the 
exploration,  development,  and  experi- 
ments at  self-government  in  the  island 
continent  and  in  New  Zealand. 

In  the  Ice  World  of  the  Himalaya.    By 

Fanny  Bullock  Workman  and  Wil- 
liam Hunter  Workman.  With  maps 
and  illustrations.  New  York  :  Cas- 
sell  &  Co.  $4.00. 

' '  In  the  Ice  World  of  the  Himalaya  ' ' 
is  the  modestly  told  story  of  record  climb- 
ing among  the  great  peaks  of  the  Hima- 
laya. Mrs.  Workman  is  the  champion 
woman  mountain-climber  of  the  world, 
but  speaks  as  modestly  of  reaching  the 
summit  of  Koser  Gunge,  21,000  feet,  or 
Mount  Bullock  Workman,  19,450  feet, 
as  though  she  were  walking  down  Fifth 
Avenue.  As  the  authors  very  truly  re- 
mark, mountain-climbing  in  the  Hima- 
laya is  quite  different  from  mountain- 
eering in  Switzerland  and  the  Tyrol. 
Instead  of  hotels  and  villages  within  a 
few  hours  distance,  and  shelter-huts  and 


a  corps  of  guides,  the  mountaineer  in 
the  Himalaya  must  march  many  days 
beyond  even  the  last  semi-civilized  vil- 
lage, and  then  fight  his  way  up  the 
mountain  handicapped  by  coolies  whom 
he  must  coax  and  bully  along.  A  num- 
ber of  excellent  pictures  from  photo- 
graphs give  a  graphic  idea  of  the  great 
peaks. 

The  Highlands  of  Asiatic  Turkey.    By 
Earl  Percy,  M.  P.    New  York  :  Long- 
mans, Green  &  Co.     $3.75. 
Earl  Percy  gives  the  record  of  a  jour- 
ney in  1899  through  Asia  Minor  from 
Constantinople  to  Busra,  on  the  Persian 
Gulf.     Two  detail  maps  of  the  country 
are  published.     There  is  much  informa- 
tion in  the  volume,  but  presented  in  a 
somewhat  heavy  manner.     There  is  the 
usual  plaintive  chapter  appealing  to  the 
British  Government  to  wake  up  and  take 
a  definite  policy  in  western  Asia. 

The  Bureau  of  Forestry  has  published 
' '  Notes  on  the  Red  Cedar, ' '  by  Charles 
Mohr  (Bui.  No.  31),  and  "Practical 
Forestry  in  the  Southern  Appalachians, ' ' 
by  Overtoil  W.  Price.  The  former  con- 
tains a  map  showing  the  present  distri- 
bution of  red  cedar  in  the  United  States. 
The  densest  growth  of  cedar  is  in  Ten- 
nessee, west  Florida,  and  central  Ala- 
bama, while  west  of  the  loist  meridian 
there  is  none  at  all.  Mr.  Price  explains 
the  growing  need  of  systematic  forest 
management  in  the  southern  Appala- 
chians, and  makes  a  number  of  practical 
suggestions. 

The  great  industrial  depression  in  Ger- 
many, which  has  rendered  idle  more 
than  one- fourth  of  her  workingmen,  is 
the  subject  of  a  special  report  by  the 
U.  S.  consul  general  at  Berlin,  Frank 
H.  Mason  (Consular  Reports,  Novem- 
ber 9,  1901,  No.  1185). 

The  Chinese  protocol,  signed  September 
7,  1901,  is  published  in  full  in  the  Con- 
.sular   Reports   for    November   5   (No. 
1 1 80). 


NATIONAL   GEOGRAPHIC   SOCIETY 


PROCEEDINGS 

MEETINGS  OF  THE  SOCIETY  : 

November  1,  1901.— Vice-President  McGee 
in  the  chair. 

A  paper  by  Dr.  Angelo  Heilprin,  of  Phila- 
delphia, advocating  the  establishment  of  a 
"  National  Geographic  Institute  "  at  Washing- 
ton, was  read  by  the  Secretary.  The  paper 
was  referred  for  consideration  to  a  committee 
consisting  of  Wm.  H.  Dall,  A.  J.  Henry,  and 
R.  U.  Goode.  Further  notice  of  the  paper 
will  be  made  later. 

Gilbert  H.  Grosvenor,  A.  M.,  gave  a  brief  ad- 
dress on  the  ' '  Geographic  Societies  of  Europe 
and  America,"  more  particularly  of  those  on 
the  former  continent  The  Vice-President  in 
an  eloquent  address  explained  why  the  study 
of  geography  appeals  to  the  intellect  and  heart 
of  men. 

November  15. — Vice-President  McGee  in  the 
chair. 

Dr.  Marcus  Baker  read  a  paper  on  "The 
Lost  Boundary  of  Texas,"  an  abstract  of  which 
appears  on  page  430  of  this  Magazine. 


LECTURES  : 

November  8. — Vice-President  McGee  in  the 
chair. 

Dr.  F.  H.  Wines,  Assistant  Director  of  the 
Census,  opened  the  course  of  lectures  pre- 
sented by  the  Society  this  season  by  an  ad- 
dress on  ' '  The  Twelfth  Census. ' '  Further 
notice  of  this  lecture  will  be  made  later. 

November  22. — Vice-President  McGee  in  the 
chair. 

Mr.  Herbert  L-  Bridgman,  Vice-President  of 
the  Arctic  Club,  gave  an  illustrated  address  on 
"  Peary's  Work  and  Progress  during  the  Past 
Two  Years. "  Mr.  Bridgman  exhibited  a  map 
prepared  by  Peary  as  a  result  of  his  work  in 
1900,  showing  in  detail  the  northern  coast- 
line of  the  Greenland  Archipelago.  The  worn 
character  of  the  north  coast,  similar  in  char- 
acter to  the  north  coast  of  Grant  Land,  on  the 
other  side  of  Robeson  Channel,  showed  un- 
mistakably that  the  northern  sea  was  a  vast 
ocean,  probably  extending  to  the  Pole  itself. 
The  map  will  not  be  published  until  Mr. 
Peary  returns  to  the  United  States. 


ANNOUNCEMENTS 

POPULAR  LECTURES : 

December  6. —  "The  Interior  of  Borneo;" 
Prof.  A.  C.  Haddon,  Oxford,  England. 

The  natives  of  Borneo  were  the  object  of 
study  of  an  expedition  dispatched  to  the  island 
from  England  in  1898-1899.  As  leader  of  this 
expedition,  Professor  Haddon  obtained  much 
interesting  information  about  the  peoples  and 
country  of  the  little-known  interior. 

December  20. — "The  Trans-Siberian  Rail- 
way ;  "  Hon.  E.  J.  Hill. 

As  a  member  of  important  committees  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  Mr.  Hill  has  taken 
a  practical  interest  in  the  extension  of  Amer- 
ican influence,  and  has  just  returned  from  the 
Orient  over  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway.  His 
journey  gave  opportunities  for  observations  of 
much  interest,  which  will  receive  first  an- 
nouncement through  the  Society. 

January  3,  1902. — "The  New  Mexico;" 
Hon.  John  W.  Foster,  ex-Secretary  of  State. 

General  Foster  was  United  States  minister  to 
Mexico  during  the  years  1873-1880,  when  the 
Republic  was  just  starting  on  that  phenomenal 
career  of  development  which  raised  it  to  a 
prominent  position  among  nations  and  placed 
its  president  among  the  world's  great  leaders. 
Twenty  years  later  (in  1901)  he  revisited  the 
country  as  its  guest,  and  his  observations  and 
impressions  will  form  the  theme  of  his  lecture. 

January  17. — '  'American  Progress  and  Pros- 
pects in  the  Philippines  ;  "  Gen.  A.  W  Greely, 
Chief  Signal  Officer,  U.  S.  Army. 

General  Greely  has  returned  to  America  after 
an  extended  tour  among  the  Philippine  Islands. 
As  an  example  of  American  progress  in  the 
Philippines,  it  may  be  stated  that  6,000  miles 
of  telegraph  lines  and  cables  have  been  put  up 
in  these  islands  by  the  U.  S.  Signal  Corps  in 
the  three  years  since  the  capture  of  Manila. 
Telegraph  and  cable  connections  are  now  com- 
plete between  the  northern  coast  of  Luzon  and 
Jolo,  1,000  miles  to  the  south. 

MEETINGS  OF  THE  SOCIETY  : 

December  13, 1901.— "The  Northwest  Bound- 
ary ;  "  C.  H.  Sinclair,  U.  S.  Coast  and  Geo- 
detic Survey  ;  E.  C.  Barnard,  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey  ;  Bailey  Willis,  U.  S.  Geological  Sur- 
vev. 

December  27. — Holiday  vacation. 

January  10,  1902. — Annual  meeting,  reports 
and  elections. 


INDEX 


Page 
ABRUZZI,  Arctic  expeditions  of  Duke  of  ..........  44,  203 

204,  247,  380 
ABYDOS,  Excavations  at  ..........................................  396 

ABYSSINIA—  The  country  and   people;    Oscar  T. 
Crosby  ..............................................................    89 

—  ,  Geography  of.  ..................  .  ..................................  274 

—  ,  Long-distance  telephone  in  ...............................    96 

—  ,  Review  of  book  on  modern  ..........................  274,444 

—  ,  Slavery  in  western  .............................................    98 

ADAMS,  C.  C.,  Review  of  book  by  ............................  445 

AFRICA,  Explorations  in  .........................................  148 

—  ,  central  east,  Kxplorations  in  .............................    42 

AFRICAN  language  in  Jamaica  ................................  164 

AGRICULTURAL  exports  of  United  States  ...............  380 

ALASKA,  Kxplorations  in  .................................  206,  399 

—  ,  Forests  ot  ............................................................  19^ 

—  ,  General  geography  of  ;  Henry  Gannett  ............  iho 

—  ,  Narrative  of  Harriman  expedition  to  .........  199,  442 

—  ,  Population  of  ......................................................  193 

—  ,  Telegraph  system  of  ...........................................      6 

ALEXANDER,  E.  P..  cited  on  boundary  between 

Nicaragua  and  Costa  Kica  .................................     23 

ALEXANDROWSK,  Arctic  harbor  ..............................    83 

AMERICA  and  China  ................................................  269 

—  ,  List  ot  maps  of.  ..................................................    409 

—  ,  Origin  of  the  nameof  ..........................................  326 

AMKRICAN  Republics,  Bureau  of.  Work  of  ..............  247 

—  floating  exposition  ;  O.  P.  Austin  ..................  49,  204 

—  interests  in  Manchuria  ........................................  270 

—  progress  in  the  Philippines  .................................  405 

AMUR,  Finding  of  the  mouth  of.  ............................  318 

ANDORRA,  Republicof.  ............................................  1^9 

ANIMALS  of  the  past  ................................................  444 

ANSCHU,  Z-KAMPFE.  mventor  of  Arctic  submarme 

ANT^cTic  •exped,tio«;-Britisn::::::::::::::v::-47;2o3:  339 

--  .  German  .........   .......................  47,  203,  311,  341  377 

--  ,  Scottish  .............................................  ............  204 

--  .Swedish  ...................................................  204,  406 

ARC  of  Quito,  Remeasurement  of.  ...........................  316 

ARCTIC  currents,  Testing  of.  ...................................  404 

ARCTICS,  Work  in,  in  IQOI  ..............  82,  202,  280,  357,  380 

ARGENTINE  RKPUBLIC,  Population  of.  ....................  438 

ASIA.  Arid  closed  basin  of  ........................................  253 

—,  central,  Explorations  in  ..............................  393,  405 

—  ,  cradle  of  humanity  ;  W  J  McGee  .......................  281 

—  ,  Culture  stages  of.  .................................................  284 

—  ,  Distribution  of  cities  of.  .....................................  25: 

—  ,  Faunal  divisions  of  ...........................................  262 

—  .  Floral  bounding  culture  regions  of  ....................  261 

—  ,  Human  antiquity  in  ............................................  289 

—  ,  Races  of.  ..............................................................  28U 

—  ,  Rainfall  and  development  of  .............................  256 

—.southwestern,  Link  relations  of;  Talcott  Wil- 

Hams  ..........................................................  249,  291 

—  ,  World's  debt  to  ...........  .  ........................................  290 

ATHENS,  Geological  explorations  near  .........  .........  401 

ATLANTIC  weather  service  .....................................    81 

ATMOSPHERE  surrounding  the  earth,  Depth  of  .....    406 

AUSTIN.  O  P.;  An  around  the  world  floating  expo- 

sition  ............................................................  49,  204 

—  ,  Reference  to  work  of.  .....................     79,  204,  440,  441 

AUSTRALIA,  Explorations  in  .............  ....................    145 

—  ,  Glacial  action  in  .................................................  161 

—  ,  Population  of.  .............  .......................................  241 

—  ,  Transcontinental  railway  of.  ..............................  313 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY,  Population  of  ..........................  205 


Page 

BALDWIN-ZIEGLER  North  Polar  Expedition.  02,202,  280 
BALLOONS  as  an  aid  to  exploration  ..........................  347 

BARNARD,  E-  C.,  Record  of  address  by  ....................  128 

—  ,  Work  on  northwestern  boundary  by  ..................  162 

BARRETT,  JOHN  ;  China:  her  history  a'nd  develop- 

ment  ..........................................  .".  .............  „  209,  266 

—  ,  Record  of  address  by  ..........................................  283 

BATHYMKTRICAL  survey  of  freshwater    lakes  of 

England  ............................................................    408 

BAUM,  Indian  village  of  .........................................  272 

BEHAIM,  MARTIN,  Globe  of.  ..................................    325 

BKLL,  ALEXANDER  GRAHAM,  referred  to  .............  ..  351 

BELL,  ROBEKT,  Director  of  Geological  Survey  of 

Canada  ...............................................................  206 

BICKERTON,  A.  W..  Review  of  book  by  ...................  166 

BIGELOW,  KKANK  H.,  Record  of  address  by  ............  127 

BIOLOGICAL  SURVEY.  Expeditious  of  .........  206,247.  405 

BOLIVIA,  Chile's  dispute  with  .................................  4°' 

—  ,  Geographic  work  in  ....................................  244.  41-6 

BOUNDARY   between   Brazil   and  French  Guiana, 

Locationof  ........................................................... 

-  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica,  Location  of.  ..........     22 

—of  Texas  ..........................  _  ..............................  4*9 

—  surveys  in  the  United  States  ..................  106,  373,  409 

—  ,  Work  on  northwestern  ......................................   161 

BOXKRS,  Revival  of  the  .......................................  57.  27' 

BRAZIL-FRENCH  GUIANA  boundary  decision  ..........    8 

BRIDGMAN,  H.  L.,  Letter  from  Peary  to  ..... 

—  ,  Member  of  Peary  relief  party  .............................  28 

—  i  Record  of  addresses  by  .................................  166,440 

—  ,  Telegram  from  .............................................. 

BRITISH  Pacific  cable  ............................... 

—.South  Polar  Expedition  .....  ...  47.  2°3.  339 


Alaska  by 

BROWN-  H-  c-:  The  Iudian  village  Ol  Baura  - 

CABLE,  British  Pacific  ............................................  3-  7* 

—  equipment  of  a  fleet  ............................................     1° 

—  ,  Survey  for  a  Pacific  ...........................................    4* 

—  system  of  Great  Britain  ......................................      3 

CABLKS,  German  submarine  .................................... 

—  ,  New  French  ocean  ..................................... 

—  ,  Submarine,  Influence  upon  military  and  naval 

supremacyof.  .......      ................................... 

—  ,  West  Indian  ....................................................... 

CALIFORNIA,  Oil  fields  of. 


CANADA,  Harly  explorations  in 

—  ,  Population"  of.  ........................................ 

Unexplored 


, 
CANADIAN  Rockies.  Explorations  in  ................ 

CAPE  to  Cairo  telegraph  .......................................... 

CARNEGIE  Museum,  Field  workers  from  .... 

CAVES,  Ice  ........................................... 

CENTRAL  AMERICA,  Germany  in  ........................... 

CENTURY  Atlasof  the  World  .................................. 

CHALMERS,  JAMES,  Massacre  of  ............ 

CHANNEL  Indians  ................................................... 

CHART  of  the  world  ...................................... 

CHII.K'S  dispute  with  Peru  and  Bolivia  .................. 

CHINA  and  America    ........................  •_  ........ 

—  Japan  ;  some  comparisons  ;  Harrie  Webster.. 

—  :    Her    history   and    development;   John    Bar- 

rett  ............................................... 

—  ,  Military  operations  in  ..... 

—  ,  Powers  in  control  of  ................ 

Reforms  in 


BAILEY,  VERNON,  Biological  work  by  ....................  247 

BAKKK,  MARCUS,  Gazetteer  of  Alaska  by  ...............  409 

—  ;  Lost  boundary  of  Texas  ...................................  430 

—  ;  Kodiak,  not  Kadiak  ..........................................  397 

—  ,  Record  of  address  by  ..........................................  448 

—  referred  to  ............................................................  352 

BAKKR,  R.  S.,  Review  of  book  by  ..........................    445 


, 

—  ,  Relations  with  the  Romans  of  .......................... 

—  ,  Review  of  book  by  James  Harrison  Wilson  on.. 

—  ,  Revival  of  the  Boxers  in  ................  ... 

—  ,  The  coming  and  expulsion  of  Christianity  in... 

—  ,  Western  progress  in  ................... 

CHINESE  in  the  United  States  ....... 

—  ,  Recuperative  character  of  ................. 

CLARK.  J.  H.,  Survey  of  Texas  boundary  by.... 

CLEVELAND,  GROVER.  referred  to  ..... 

(449) 


'4° 

l62 

2° 
' 

2 

4' 

" 

207 


45°        THE   NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


Page 

COAL,  Output  of,  in  the  United  States 348 

COAST  AND  GEODETIC  SURVEY,  Work  of. 36,  158 

161.  207,  405 

COLD-WAVE  warnings .  365 

COLOMBIA,  Revolutionary  movements  In 172 

COLONIAL  Administration,  Report  on. . 440 

CONGER,  Minister,  referred  to 59,  434 

CONSULAR  list  of  the  United  States 315 

CONWAY.  SIR  MARTIN,  Expedition  sent  by 406 

COOK,  FREDERIC  A.,  Record  of  address  by 166 

Cos  i  A  RICA  and  Nicaragua.  Boundaries  between..  22 

COVII.LK,  F.  V.,  Record  of  address  by 127 

COW-WORSHIPPERS  among  the  Magpis  (Africa) 43 

CRANK,  A  LICK  ROLLINS  ;  The  midnight  sun  in  the 

Klondike 66 

— ;  The  northern  lights 69 

CKOSIIY,  OSCAR  T.  ;  Abyssinia— The  country  and 

people 89 

— ,  Book  review  by 444 

— ,  Record  of  address  by 127 

CUBA,  Census  of. '. 80 

— ,  Telegraph  system  in 5 

— ,  Work  by  Geological  Survey  in 207 

DAMASCUS  and  Mecca  Railway 408 

DARTON,  N.  H.,  Record  of  address  by 127 

DAVIDSON,  GEORGE  ;  Origin  of  the  name  "Cape 

Nome" 398 

DAVIS,  ARTHUR  P. ;  Location  of  the  boundary  be- 
tween Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica 22 

— ,  Record  of  address  by 88 

DAVIS,  WM.  M.,  Referred  to 352,409 

DAWSON.  GEORGE  M.,  Obituary  note  on 197 

— ,  \\  ork  in  Yukon  watershed  by 146 

DAY,  DAVID  T..  Chart  compiled  by 407 

— ,  cited  on  oil  fields  of  Texas  and  California 276 

DEATH  rate  in  the  United  States 401 

DK  MORGAN.  Excavations  at  Susa  of 315 

DENMARK.  Population  of. 205 

DESERT  Si  OK  M 1.15 

DIKKS  of  Holland,  The;  Gerard  H.  Matthes 219 

DRIFT  of  floating  bottles  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  ; 

James  Page 337 

DR'VGALSKI,  ERICH  VON,  Leader  of  the  German 

Antarctic  Expedition 47,  204,  331,  378 

Du  CHAILLD,  PAUL,  Referred  to 208,  315 

DUMONT,  SANTOS,  Success  in  aerial  navigation  re- 
ferred to 347 

EGYPT.  Recent  discoveries  in 396 

EMORY,  FREDERIC,  Report  on  foreign  commerce 


by. 


244 


EMORY,  W.  H..  cited  on  southern  boundary  of  the 

United  States 376 

ERIVAN.  old  post-road  from  Tiflis  to 300 

ETHNOLOGIC  expedition  to  Santo  Domingo 130 

ETHNOLOGY.  BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN,  Work  of. 369 

EVANS.  JONES  W.,  Leader  of  Conway's  Bolivian 

expedition 406 

ExCAVAiioNSat  Abydos 407 

—  at  Susa 315 

—  near  Athens 407 

EXPOSITION,  An  American  floating 49,  204 

— .  An  Austro-Hungarian  floating 164 

EXPLORATIONS  during  nineteenth  century 143 

—  in  Alaska 399 

central  east  Africa 42 

Victoria's  reign 160 

FILIPINOS,  Amusements  of. 121 

— ,  Tools  and  weapons  of. 120 

FiKK-wALKat  Tahiti 425 

FISH  and  Fisheries,  U.  8.  Commission  on.  Work  of.  404 

FLINDERS-PKTRIK,  Hxcavations  by  Prof. 396 

FLOOD  warnings  in  United  States 367 

FORBES,  R.  H.,  referred  to 104,  130,  145 

FORD.  ALEXANDER  HUMB.  Record  of  address  by..  166 

FORREST.  JOHN,  Australian  railway  scheme  of. 313 

FOSTER,  JOHN  W.,  cited  on  Me_xico 159 

—  ;  The  Latin-American  constitutions  and  revolu- 

tions  •. 169 


Page 
FRANKKNFIBLD,  H.  C..  Record  of  address  by...  88,  127 

FRANKLIN,  JOHN,  Arctic  explorations  of. 144 

FREMONT,  JOHN  C.,  Explorations  of 146 

GADSDEN  Purchase 106.  377 

GANNETT,  HENRY;  General  geography  of  Alaska  180 

—  ;  George  M.  Dawspn 197 

—  ;  Origin  of  Yosemite  Valley 86 

— ,  referred  to 8p,  199,  241,  314.  373,  388,  400,  409 

«'. I-.IKIK.  ARCHIBALD,  Obituary  note  on 163 

GENTHE,  MARTHA  KRUG  ;  German    geographers 

and  German  geography 324 

GEOGRAPHIC  facts  from  report  of  the  Taft  Philip- 
pine Commission  „ 114 

—  literature 126,  165.  207,  248.  409,  442 

—  names,  Decisions  regarding 87,  125,  200,  242,  316 

—  notes:....  44.  77.  "3.  '58,  «99,  24°.  3'3.  347.  38°.  399.  43* 

—  progress  in  South  America 244 

GEOGRAPHIC  SOCIETY,  NATIONAL,  Proceedings  of.    88 

127,  166.  2c8,  447 

,  Program  of. 411 

GEOGRAPHICAL  Congress,  International 351 

GEOGRAPHICAL  Society,  Imperial  Russian 405 

of  Vienna -  aoi 

,  Royal lot,  160 

—  Societies  of  France,  Congress  of. 4<M 

GEOGRAPHY,  Certain  persistent  errors  in 400 

— ,  Elementary  teaching  in  Germany  of. 333 

GEOLOGICAL  explorations  near  Athens _  407 

GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY,  Work  of...  206,  246,  314.  348,  399 
GERDINK,  T.   G.,  in    charge   of   Alaska    expedi- 
tions   206,  399 

GERMAN  census.  The 

—  geographers  and  German  geography 324 

—  South  Polar  expeditions 47,  203,  311,377 

—  submarine  cable  system 163 

GERMANY  in  Central  America 201 

— ,  Suspension  railway  in 162 

GILBERT,  C.  H.,  Reference  to  deep-sea  work  by 404 

GILBERT,  G.  K.,  Record  of  address  by 8 

GLACIAL  action  in  Australia   

GLOTOF,  STEPHEN,  Discovery  of  Kodiak  by 397 

GREAT  BRITAIN,  Cable  system  of 3 

in  Yangtze  valley 163 

,  Population  of.....". 24* 

GREECE,  Survey  of. 206 

GREELY,  A.  W.;  Advances  in  geographical  knowl- 
edge during  the  nineteenth  century 143 

— ,  Record  of  address  by '... 8 

—  referred  to 8,  247,  352 

GROGAN,  EWART  S.,  Record  of  address  by * 

GROSVENOR.  KDWIN  A.,  Record  of  address  by 166 

—  referred  to 283 

—  ;  Siberia -  3«7 

GROSVENOR,  GILBERT  H.,  Book  reviews  by....  126,  165 

207,  248,  409.  444 

—  ;  Geographic  notes 44,  77,  123.  158,  '99-  *4O,  3'3 

347.  38o.  399-  436 
— ;    Next  international  congress  to  be    held    in 

Washington -  351 

— ,  Record  of  address  by 44* 

—  ;  Sex,  nativity,  and  color  of  the  people  of  the 

United  States 381 

HAARLEM  Lake,  Draining  of. 224 

HAECKEL,  ERNEST,  referred  to 286 

HARRIMAN  Expedition,  Narrative  volume  of..  199,442 

referred  to 181 

HARTI,  HEINRICH.  Survey  of  Greece  by so6 

HATCHER,  J.  B.,  Field-work  of  3" 

— ;    The    Indian    tribes   of  southern    Patagonia, 

Tierra  del  Fuego,  and  the  adjoining  islands i 

HAY,  JOHN,  referred  to • 269 

HEDIN,  SVEN,  Explorations  in  Central  Asia 45 

147.  393 

HEII.PRIN,  ANOELO,  Record  of  address  by 

HENRI  OF  ORLEANS,  Obituary  note  on 346 

HENRY,  A.  J.,  Record  of  address  by 

—  referred  to 81.82.  248,448 

HILDER,  F.  F.,  Work  in  the  Philippines  of. 119 

— ,  Obituary  note  on 85 

HIGH  plains  and  their  utilization 4°9 


INDEX 


45 


Page  Page 

HITCHCOCK,  FRANK  H.,  Report  of. 380       MCKINLEY,  President,  In  memoriam  of. 350 

HODGE,  F.  W.,  Book  review  by 165       MANCHURIA,  American  interests  in 270 

HOFFMAN,  D.  O.  NOBLE;  The  Philippine  exhibit  MARQUESAS  Islands 415 

at  the  Pan-American  Exposition 119        MARTIN.  W.  A.  P.,  Record  of  address  by 88 

HOLDER,  CHARLES  F. ;  A  remarkable  salt  deposit..  391       — ;  The  siege  of  Pekin „    53 

HOLLAND,  Thr  dikes  of ;  Gerard  H  Matthes 29       MATTHES,  GERARD  H.;  The  dikes  of  Holland 219 

— ,  Means  of  protection  against  flood  discharges  in..  231        MEAKIN,  BUDGETT,  Review  ofbook  by 208 

— ,  Recession  of  the  coast  line  in 221        MENDENHALL,  W.  C.,  Work  in  Alaska  by 206,  399 

— ,  Reclaiming  the  land  in 222  MERRIAM,  C.  HART,  Editor  of  Harriman  Alaska 

HOMOLOGRAPHIC  projection.  Invention  of. 38  publications 199 

HoyKY,  ESTHER  LANCRAFT ;  Old  post-road  from  — ,  Refert  nee  to  work  of, 206,  405 

Tiflis  to  Erivan        300        METEOROLOGICAL  science.  Development  of 362 

HOVEY,  E.  O  ,  Work  of. 346        MEXICAN  boundary  survey 146 

HUBBARD.  JAMES  MASCARENE  ;  Siiigan— Thepres-  —  cession.  First 376 

ent  capital  of  the  Chinese  Empire 63       MEXICO,  City  of 178 

—  ;  The  Tsangpo 32       —,  Department  of  foreign  affairs  in 154 

HUBBARD  Memorial  Building 356        — ,  Factories  of. 170 

HUMAN  antiquity  in  Asia 289        — ,  John  W.  Foster  on 159 

—  progress,  Course  of. 287       — ,  Maps  of. 247 

HUM BOLDT  referred  to 145        — ,  Miningiu 157 

HYDROGRAPHIC  OFFICE,  Work  of  U.  S 337       —  of  today  :  Juan  N.  Navarro 152,  176,  235 

— ,  Public  education  in 156 

— ,  Roads  in »77 

ICE  caves 433  MIDNIGHT  sun    in  the  Klondike;    Alice  Rollins 

—  in  southern  latitudes 4<9  Crane 66 

INDIA,  Census  of. 158  MILLS,  WM.  C.,  Indian  exhibit  at  Buffalo  Kxposi- 

— ,  Native  surveyors  of. 35  tion  by 272 

INDIAN    tribes    of    southern    Patagonia;    J.    B.  MINING  andmineralresourcesof  the  United  states.  407 

Hatcher 12        MISSING  link,  Discovery  of  the 286 

—  village  of  Baum 272  MOLI.WEIDE,  C.    B.,  inventor  of  homolographic 

,  Review  of  book  by  J.  A.  Udden  on  an  old...  165  projection 3s 

INDIANS,  Papago,  Customs  of. 103        MOORE.  WILLIS  I.,.,  referred  to 81,  127,  362 

.The  Serf 278       — ,  Review  of  book  by 126,  248 

ISTHMIAN  CANAL  COMMISSION,  Report  of. 28,441       — ;  The  Weather  Bureau 362 

MOORS,  Review  of  book  on  land  of  the 208 

MUIR,  JOHN,  Review  of  book  by 444 

JAMAICA,  African  language  in 164       MULDROW,  ROBERT  ;  Mount  McKinley 312 

JAPAN  AND    CHINA — Some    comparisons;    Harrie  MUR A VIEFF,  N.  N.,  Explorations  along  the  Amur 

Webster 69  by 3'8 

JOHNSON,  WILLARD  D..  referred  to 278,409       MURRAY,  JOHN,  Oceanographic  work  of 150,  238 

JUDD,  S.  D.,  Note  of  report  on  sparrows  by 410 

NAIN  SINGH,  Explorations  of 34.  '47 

KENNAN,  GEORGE,  referred  to 315        NANSEN  referred  to 144,  *«.  34* 

KIMBALL,  H  H.,  Reference  to  paper  on  ice  caves  NAVARRO  JUAN  N. ;  Mexico  of  today  ....  127,  152,  176 

fey  •• ••:••• • 433       NEGRO  element  in  the  United  States 3»5 

KODIAK,  not  Kadiak;  Marcus  Baker 397  NEUMANN,  OSCAR,  Note  on  A  frican  exploration  by  407 

KOLLM,  GEORG;  German  South  Polar  Expedition..  377  NEWKST  ENGLAND,  Review  of  Demarest's  book  on  165 

KONGO  Basin,  Exploration  01 148  NICARAGUA  and  Costa  Rica,  Boundary  between....    22 

KOZI.OFF,  LIEUT.,   Note  on  expedition  to  central  NICARAGUA  Canal.  The 28,441 

China  by 405  NINETEENTH  century.  Geographic  progress  dur- 

LANGLEY,  S.  P.,  Notes  from  a  diary  of  a  trip  to  ^^0^'^  SS^h^uth  * 

-,  Report  on  ^ithsoniai;'Vustitution'Dy":Z:"Z  410  Polar  Expedition  ...   

^l&^SS  constitutions  and  revolutions; 

»l 

LINK  relations  ot  southwestern  Asia  ;  Talcott  Wil- 

i'sSf*  'a:  w::  *^«"3*™  *:—  1 
:•  survey  fo^a  cable" to Vhe-phiuppines::::::::.::::::  4i 

LIVINGSTONE'S  explorations H9 

LOMBROSO,  CESARE,  cited  on  China 206 

Low,  SETH.  referred  to 357- 44O       PArlIMr  cable  A  6 

LUCAS,  A.  F.,  Discovery  of  oil  in  Texas  by 27?  c'™?  Natives"  of".V  ~    » 

LUCAS,  F.  A.,  Reviewof  book  by 444       ~  %S^1M7^™ZZ. -  '46 

PACK.  JAMKS  ;  Drift  of  floating  bottles  in  the  Pa- 

MCADIE,  ALEXANDER,  Abstract  of  paper  by 108  cific  Ocean 

McGEE,  W  J  ;  Asia,  the  cradle  of  humanity 281        —  referred  to 

— ,  Book  reviews  by 207,  442       PAPAGO  Indians.  Customs  of...... 

—  ;  Col.  F.  F.  Hilder 85       PARK,  MUNGO.  Explorations  of. 

—  ;  Ice  caves  and  frozen  wells 433       PARKER,  E.  W.,  Report  on  coal  output  by 

—  ;  Joseph  Le  Conte 309       PATAGONIA,  southern.  Indian  tribes  of. 

-,  Mufliz  collection  exhibited  by 242       PEARY,  JOSF.PHINK  D..  referred  to .«.. 

—  K ecord  of  addresses  bv 166,448       PEARY,  ROBERT,  Arctic  work  of. ...144.202,357,448 

-;  The  old  Yuma  trail ...;      103,  129       PEKIN,  Causes  leading  to  the  siege  of i 

-  The  Seri  Indians 278  PKRO,  Chile's  dispute  with ... 

-  ;  Work  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology...  369  PBTBRS.  W.T.,  Alaska  expeditions  by.... 
MCKINLEY,  Mount ;  Robert  Muldrow 3"       — .  Record  of  address  by 


45 2         THE  NATIONAL  GEOGRAPHIC  MAGAZINE 


PHILIPPINE  exhibit  at  the  Pan-American  Exposi- 
tion    119 

PHILIPPINE  Islands.  American  progress  in 405 

,  Forests  of 47 

,  Harbors  and  highways  of. 1 16 

,  Map  of 406 

,  Ownership  of  land  in 115 

,  Telegraphs  in 6,  405 

,  Weather  service  of 248 

I'nii  i.ii'S,  P.  I,.,  I, ist  of  American  maps  by 409 

PIKE,  GENERAL,  Explorations  by 146 

PINCHOT,  GIFFORD,  Record  of  address  by 88 

PLATEAU  barometry  of  the  United  States 127 

PORTO  Rico,  Census  of. 80 

— ,  Charting  the  coast  of 45 

— ,  Telegraph  system  in 5 

POWELL,   J.   W.,  cited  on    African    language    in 

Jamaica 164 

— ,  Researches  among  Indians  by 284 

Pri.i.AK,  LAURENCE,  Survey  of  English  lakes  by.  408 
PUTNAM,  G.  R.,  Charting  harbors  of  Philippines 
by 125 

QCBRINI,  FRANCO,  Search  for 44,  380 

O.UITO,  Remeasurement  of  the  arc  of 316 

RACKS  of  Asia 283 

RAILWAY,  Australian 313 

— ,  Suspension,  in  Germany 162 

— ,  Trans-Siberian 44,  206,  322 

RECIPROCITY  Treaties,  Report  on 440 

REDWAY,  J.  W.,  Review  of  book  by 446 

RICHTHOFEN,  VON,  referred  to " 330,  351 

RIVER  profiles 314 

ROYAL  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIKTY 160,247,339 

RUSSIAN  Monroe  doctrine 323 

SALT  deposit,  A  remarkable 391 

SAN  MOKINO,  Republic  of. 199 

SAVILLE,  M.  H.,  Record  of  address  by 88 

SCHOTT,  C.  A.  ;  Recent  contributions  to  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  earth's  shape  and  size 36 

— ,  Record  of  address  by 88 

SCIDMOKE,  ELIZA  R.,  referred  to 352,403 

SEA  fogs  of  San  Francisco;  Alexander  G.  McAdie.  108 

SERI  INDIANS,  The  ;  W  J  McGee.. 278 

SBRVIA 241 

SIBERIA,  The  resources  and  future  of;  Kdwin  A. 

Grosvenor 317 

— ,  Development  of. 78 

—  Railway 44,  206,  322,  438 

SIGNAL  CORPS.  U.  S.,  Work  of 5.  405,  416 

SINCLAIR,  C.  H.,  Work  on  northern  boundary  by...  162 

SINGAN,  A  Chinese  capital 63 

SMITH,    DONALDSON,    Expedition  of,    in    central 

east  Africa 42,  247 

SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION,  Report  of,  for  1900 .'  286 

SONOYTA— The  Sump  of. 1-^3 

SNOWFALL,  Effect  on  water  supply  of. 124 

SOUTH  AFRICA,  Military  operations  in 409 

SPENCER,  A.  C.,  Record  of  address  by 127 

SPITZBEKGEN,  Russian  expedition  to 404 

Son  KK.  GEORGE  O. ;  Influenceof submarine  cables 

upon  military  and  naval  supremacy i 

STANLEY-BROWN,  JOSEPH,  Record  of  address  by...    SS 
STATISTICS,    BUREAU  OF,  Treasury   Department, 

Reports  by 402,  409 

STEIN,  ROBERT,  Polar  expedition  of 380 

STEPHENS,  H.  MORSE,  Record  of  address  by 166 

SUBMARINE  Arctic. boat 201 

—  cable  systems 8,  163,  315 

SUEZ  Canal,  Traffic  on 380 

SVEN  HEDIN'S  explorations  in  central  Asia 45,  393 

SVERI>RUP,  No  news  from  Captain 380 

SWITZERLAND,  Population  of 205 

TAFT  Philippine  Commission,  Report  of. 114 

TAHITI;  by  S.  P.  Langley 413 

TEALL,  J.  J..  Director  of  British  Geological  Survey.   163 
TEHUELCHES,  So-called  race  of  giants 12 


Page 

TELEGRAPH,  British  Yukon 164 

— ,  Cape  to  Cairo 

— ,  Philippine  military 6 

—  system  in  Cuba  and  I'orto  Rico > 

— .  The  Alaskan 6 

TERRITORIAL  acquisitions.  Boundaries  of. 373 

TEXAS,  Lost  Boundary  of. 430 

— .  Northwestrrn  boundary  of 376 

— ,  Oil  fields  of. 276 

TIBET,  Explorations  of. 33,  147,  403 

TII-RKA  DEL  FUEGO,  Indian  tribes  of. 12 

TiFLisand  Erivan,  Old  post-road  between 300 

TITTMANN,  O.  H  ,  referred  to 37,  161,  373 

TODD,  W.  E.  C.,  Field-work  of 311 

TOLL,  BARON,  Arctic  work  ol 404 

•TOWNSEND,  CHARLES  H..  Compiler  of  Fish  Com- 
mission records 410 

TSANGPO,  The  ;  James  Mascarene  Hnbbard 32 

UDDEN,  J.  A.,  Review  of  book  by 165 

UNITED  KINGDOM,  Population  of. 240 

UNITED  STATES,  Agricultural  exports  of. 380 

,  Boundaries  of 161,  373,  441 

,  Center  of  population  in 

,  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Indians  in 388 

,  Coal  output  of. 348 

,  Colonial  telegraph  system  for 5 

,  Commercial  relations  of. 244,  402 

Consular  list 315 

,  Death  rate  in,  in  1900 401 

,  Foreign  born  in 385,  441 

,  Immigration  to 383,  403 

Institutions  which  promote  geographic  re- 
search   355 

—  — ,  Literacy  of  men  of. 437 

,  Mapping  of. 123 

,  Males  and  females  in 388 

,  Mineral  products  of. 407 

,  Sex,  nativity,  and  color  ot  people  of. 381 

,  Urban  population  of. 345 

VENEZUELA,  Revolution  in 171 

VICTORIA,  Exploration  during  reign  of. 160 

VIKNNA,  Recent  census  of. 164 

VLADIVOSTOK,  terminus  of  the  Siberian  Railway...  319 

WAINWRIGHT,  D.  B.,  Record  of  address  by 88 

WALLACE,  Scientific  work  in  the  Amazon  Basin  of..  145 
WALKER,  J.  G.,  referred  to  in  connection  with 

Nicaragua  Canal... 26 

WARD,  R.  De  C.,  Referred  to 409,  440 

WATER  supply,  Kffect  of  snowfall  on   124 

WEATHER  BUREAU,  The;  Willis  L.  Moore 362 

,  Work  of. 81,  108,  124,  127,  164.  248 

WELLBY,  CAPTAIN,  Review  of  Abyssinian  book  by..  443 
WELLMAN,  WALTER,  Plans  for  Arctic  work  of..202,  233 
WHITE,  ANDREW  D.,  Referred  to  as  delegate  to 

Geographic  Congress 357 

WILCOX,  W.  D.  ;  Work  in  Canadian  Rockies 439 

WILCOX,  WALTKR  F.,  Summary  of  conference  on 

United  states  boundaries  by 373 

WILDE,  AUGUSTUS  B.,  Review  o'f  book  by.  on  mod- 
ern Abyssinia 274 

WILLIAMS,"  TALCOTT  ;  The  link  relations  of  south- 
western Asia 249,  291 

— ,  Record  of  address  by 166 

— .  referred  to 282,  203 

WILLETTS,  GILSON.  Record  of  address  by 166 

WILLIS,  BAILEY,  Work  on  northwest  boundary....  162 

WILSON,  H.  M.,  Referred  to 123 

WINES,  H.  F.,  Record  of  address  by 448 

WORLD  routes 321 

WYOMING,  Oil  fields  of. 278 

YANGTZE  Valley.  Great  Britain  in 163 

YELLOW  Fever,  Conquest  of,  in  Habana 440 

YOSEMITE  Valley,  Originof. 86 

7rtt>ER  ZKE,  Draining  the 314,  439 

— ,  Formation  of  the 221 


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